Suppose for a second that Jesus Christ did not in fact rise
from the dead. Ask yourself—would you have any regrets?
I suppose that most of you would not, because you have
lived a good life, guided by Christian morals. Even back
in the 17th century, French philosopher Blaise Pascal
came up with his famous wager, that one should rationally
believe in God because if he does, one gets infinite gain
while if he does not, the loss is merely finite. According
to the wager, whether or not God really exists should not
change the decision to believe as even if He does not exist,
the believer would still have adopted a moral compass
which would have guided him to lead a good life.
However, Paul, in his first letter to the
Corinthian church, thought otherwise.
If we have hoped in Christ in this life only,
we are of all men most to be pitied.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:19
Why are we to be pitied if our hope in Christ is in this
life only? Thankfully, he does not leave us hanging
and answers this doubt in a preceding verse.
If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is
empty and your faith is also empty.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:14
Are we only to be pitied because the preachings we have
heard were empty and so was our faith? Yes, that is true, but I
hold that it goes deeper than that. I challenge you to consider
that we are to be pitied more so because we chose to suffer
for Christ, and if He did not rise from the dead, we suffered for
nothing. In a separate letter to the Roman church, Paul wrote,
And not only this, but we also exult in our
tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings
about perseverance; and perseverance, proven
character; and proven character, hope.
ROMANS 5:3-4
Paul is saying that when we go through trials and tribulations,
we exult in them because we know that they eventually
bring about hope. This is because while the suffering we
face may cause us to question the grace we have received
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CORNERSTONE Magazine