Navigating Grief: The Resurrection Changes Everything
Daily Scripture
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1 Brothers and sisters, I want to call your attention to the good news that I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand. 2 You are being saved through it if you hold on to the message I preached to you, unless somehow you believed it for nothing. 3 I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, 4 he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. 5 He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, 6 and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time. 9 I’m the least important of the apostles. I don’t deserve to be called an apostle, because I harassed God’s church. 10 I am what I am by God’s grace, and God’s grace hasn’t been for nothing. In fact, I have worked harder than all the others—that is, it wasn’t me but the grace of God that is with me. 11 So then, whether you heard the message from me or them, this is what we preach and this is what you have believed.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
The first Christians faced death early. Judean leaders killed a believer named Stephen for claiming the crucified Jesus was alive (cf. Acts 7). A young man named Saul approved of the killing and kept on persecuting Christians (cf. Acts 8:1-3). Yet that same man met the risen Jesus (cf. Acts 9:1-20) and became the apostle Paul, a tireless preacher of the risen Christ. To Christians in the Greek city of Corinth, he listed many times when the risen Jesus appeared to people, including him (verse 8).
- Jesus’ resurrection didn’t fit Greek philosophy (cf. Acts 17:32, 1 Corinthians 1:22-24). To doubters in Corinth Paul listed hundreds of people who saw that it was real. Unlike Greek myths, they could check the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. Pastor Kenneth Chafin said, “Paul reminded them that when the gospel is reduced to its essence, it was… a happening that can be given date and place and person…. the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was an event that really took place and whose implications were enormous.” * How can Jesus’ resurrection give you hope even in the face of death?
- Paul identified the fact that Christ died, was buried and rose on the third day “as most important” to the faith. Through the centuries many people have found it hard to believe. But the uniqueness of that event was precisely what led that apostle to call it “most important.” It shaped the trust with which Christians faced the Roman Empire’s hatred. How does that trust shape your approach to life?
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for coming into human history in the person of Jesus to live, die and rise again “right before our eyes.” Expand my imagination to grasp the implications and possibilities for my 21st-century life. Amen.
GPS Insights
Katy Nall
Katy Nall serves as the Program Director of Missions for Resurrection West. She is a mom of two and loves to be outside in the sunshine, especially if it involves mountains or ocean. She loves hiking, reading, learning, and connecting.
Anyone that seriously follows Jesus can testify to what the apostle Paul said in today’s Scripture. Once we were something, and through the grace of God, now we are something new. As Paul said, “I am what I am by God’s grace, and God’s grace hasn’t been for nothing.” Everything he has become—his identity, his mission, his strength—comes only from God’s grace. He recognizes that despite his past as a persecutor of Christians, God’s grace wasn’t wasted on him. Instead, it transformed him into one of the most influential apostles of Christ.
It can be so easy, especially for non-Christians, to think of suffering, death, and loss as evidence against a loving God. In the depths of grief, we are sure that we have met an end of some kind. Yet, we see over and over, when we trust in his power and not our own, God’s grace is never wasted. All of us experience pain in our lives because of our mortality and our constant struggle with our own mistakes and the mistakes of others. Through it all, God loves us and bears our suffering with us. God is close to us; feeling the pain and holding us through all our hardest moments. Sometimes my grief can feel unbearable, but when I consider that my overwhelming grief is only a small drop in the ocean of grief that God bears for the whole world, I am reminded of the vast depth of God’s heart. When we are in the midst of that grief, it is comforting to sit in the darkness with a God who weeps and aches with us, and as time goes on God’s grace begins to heal and strengthen us. A way is made for something good to come. If grief is love with nowhere to go, then when we choose to give that love to God, he will multiply it.
Paul made terrible decisions before he knew Jesus. He was the cause of great suffering and hardship for many people, but because of God’s grace, the good that God was able to do in the world through Paul was profound and continues to change lives to this day! I believe that because of the resurrection, we must try to live our lives fearlessly. Life is finite, and we should not spend our days trapped in worry and fear of what might happen, but we should embrace our one precious life. We should be people who say yes to adventure, helping others, standing up for what is right, and treasuring every moment we are given. I know that God’s grace is never for nothing and that despite any of the suffering that I experience in life, I choose to live my life fearlessly and trust in the love of God!
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Kenneth L. Chafin, The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 30: 1, 2 Corinthians. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, p, 177.
