READING: 1 Corinthians 15-16
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
1 Corinthians 15:54
If I’m honest, I read the following words at most funerals when I was a pastor, but I did not grasp their importance. The text is longer than I usually quote, but it’s worth reading:
Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place:
Death has been swallowed up in victory.
Where, death, is your victory?
Where, death, is your sting?
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:51-58)
There is so much in this text! At some point in time, we who are believers will experience resurrection. God will change our bodies fully, and death will no longer reign. Its pain that is now so deep will lose its power—and we can live today with that hope in mind. Indeed, we must press on with abandon in God’s work, knowing that what we do will not be in vain. Thus, it is right at all times – and especially during this Thanksgiving season – to echo Paul’s words: “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”
ACTION STEPS:
- Tomorrow in the United States is Thanksgiving, but every day should be a day of gratitude. Thank God today for His grace.
- Prayerfully thank God for the promise of resurrection not only for you, but also for your Christian loved ones who have passed away.
PRAYER: “Thank You, God, for the victory we have in Jesus!”
TOMORROW’S READING: 2 Corinthians 1-4
