The fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead changes everything. It changes what we hope for and where we place our trust!
Paul writes:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).
How vital it is to remember that just as Christ is made alive, so we will be made alive. And if God has the power over death, should we not trust him in all things? Since we serve a God who raises the dead, what have we to fear?
N.T. Wright writes:
If, then, we recognize the truth about the surpassing God, the God who raises the dead, we can trust him with every task that may come our way. He can be trusted with exams; he can be trusted with jobs, even when they don’t necessarily work out the way we thought they should. He can be trusted with marriage, both as we look forward to it with eagerness and trepidation and when we find ourselves within it and facing the stresses and strains that all contemporary marriages must expect. He can be trusted with money, even when it seems as though there is even less of it available than we had thought. He can be trusted with old age. He can be trusted with death itself. Of course he can; he is the God who raised the dead, who affirms the goodness of human life, who takes precisely the situation where there seems to be no hope in human terms, and brings new life exactly there.
As we draw near to Easter, let it push us to follow Christ more fully knowing that he holds the power of life and death. Let us be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord [our] labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).
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