Text: 1 Corinthians 15:12-28
“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
The question we all love getting from someone in our life.
I always choose the bad news first. I like to get it over with. I don’t want my ice cream before my Brussels sprouts. Just let me plow through the bitterness. I’ll deal with it, one bite at a time, and then I’ll savor my sweet ending.
And while there is beauty in the story of creation, Adam and Eve isn’t a feel-good story. The fall of man, our betrayal and ultimate separation from our loving Father, it really is the bad news first.
Yet thankfully, that’s not where the story ends.
Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12-19, that without Christ and His resurrection we can’t be raised from the dead. We are still in our sins. We are still separated from our Creator in this life and in death. We are still Adam. Now and forever.
Gulp.
But (and I’ve never been more grateful for a “but” in my life), Paul still gets to tell us the good news. And it’s the best news of all.
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:20-22)
God didn’t just leave us with our plate of Brussels sprouts, that Adam ordered for all of us, to heap on our plates, family style. God had a plan to rescue us. To win us back to His sweet table. And that plan, was a Second Adam. But this Adam was perfect and faultless. This Adam was His Son, sent as a Man, just like Adam, to undo what Adam had done. What you and I have done. To resurrect us in a way that Adam never could. This Adam was the last Adam the world would ever need (1 Cor. 15:45).
God gave us the ultimate Good News. The Good News that cancels out any bad news. He gave us Christ. And in Him we are made alive. Now and forever.
Thank you Lord!!!!
1 Corinthians is saying that because Jesus was raised from the dead, we do not have to remain in our sins! I'm so thankful for this second, third, fourth, fifth, one hundredth chance to make things right. I am like the dead that needs new life breathed into me so that I may fulfill God's purpose for my life and the life of others.
I was reminded of the song "Redeemed" by Big Daddy Weave. We are set free because of the blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGAYNKDyIU
Thanks be to God! In Him we are alive! This post and today's reading is just what my heart was seeking on this bustling day. I believe this is my first ever comment on this She Reads Truth blog, despite the fact I've been reading along with your devotionals since the beginning of this wonderful community. This series is already pushing me. Several years ago our home burned down and with it every bible I've owned. You've encouraged me to finally replace those bibles, and it has been so liberating getting out of the bible phone app and into the pages of His word. Looking forward to the rest of this series and many more with She Reads Truth!
I am new to SRT, and I have filled a whole in my heart with a sisterhood in God's love, and his word. I just want to say thank you to all you ladies for your excellent writing, and making it so easy to read and understand and really feel the message in what God is wanting us to hear. Praise Jesus and all you ladies!
This was such a great post, especially after the last couple of days. It's so good for us to concentrate on Jesus rather than on the Fall. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus" is one of my favorite hymns, and this devotional today really speaks to that. Instead of spending so much time focused on our sin, on our problems, we need to turn our eyes upon Him. The sin is there (of that there is no doubt), but we'll get tripped up if we keep our eyes focused on where we've been. Instead, focus on where we're going. Focus on Jesus.
Amen.. You are so right.