Eternal Hope

K-Lai — Thu, 20 Nov 2003 09:32:00 -0800

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:56-58 (NIV)

I think it’s great that there is a resurrection of the dead. Throughout chapter 15 Paul reasons that without the resurrection of the dead, Christians are “to be pitied more than all men” (v. 19). It is because of the resurrection of the dead that we can be joyful in life, since if there is no life after death, we might as well waste away our time and life. Or, as Scripture puts it, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (Isaiah 22:13, 1 Corinthians 15:32).

Since we have this hope for eternity, Christians have a hope that carries them through their lives here on Earth. Without this hope, there isn’t any reason to study hard, make good grades, get a degree, make money, or anything like that – none of that stuff satisfies, and if we can’t look forward to something better in the future, we should just reduce ourselves to animals, only satisfying our carnal desires. Although it can be argued that working to leave a legacy behind in this world, or to improve society as a whole, is a worthy reason to do good, I disagree. Humans as we know them today have been around for maybe 10,000 years. Let’s assume macroevolution works (it doesn’t). This assumes the age of the universe is billions of years old, and so the amount of time humans have been around is incredibly small. Now, extrapolate that to the future, when humans may die out because of disease, natural disaster, etc., etc. (it seems like the universe is out to kill us all). What good is society 10 million years from now? Will anyone remember someone’s deeds on that time scale? Will anyone care about it? Probably not. I’m not exactly sure what I was trying to prove – I don’t think I was going for anything, but I’m merely pointing out that the improvement of the human race as a whole should not provide adequate fulfillment for those people who desire for significance.

So then, as Christians, who have this greater hope and joy through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, every activity should be with purpose and significance. This involves every activity of our life: whether we’re sleeping, going to class, doing homework, playing video games, hanging out with friends, serving others, we ought to put our whole selves into the work. This glorifies God, and this is the worship that He desires from our lives.

k-lai.com: Eternal Hope

Eternal Hope