My Struggle

1 Corinthians 15:19 is a verse that is constantly in my mind. “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” See, the way Paul lived his life is what we would call crazy, perhaps rightly so, Paul pulled no punches he lived all out for Christ. Reading through the New Testament you’ll come across many stories of Paul being beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and imprisoned. This guy never seemed to catch a break, but what’s really amazing to me is that he never wanted one. Philippians 3:8 “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” He never stopped seeking after God, it didn’t matter that he was in prison or shipwrecked he continually sought after God. Paul’s focus was completely and wholly on Christ. Paul never was never slave to material possession because he relentlessly focused on “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus”. This is a man who lost everything he had time and time again for the sake of the Gospel. Paul had staked his entire life on the hope of Christ. Paul was “all in” he held back nothing; he saw everything as rubbish next to what he stood to gain. What Paul is saying in 1Cor 15:19 is simply this- that if he’s wrong about Christ, he has lived a pathetic existence full of anguish, suffering and affliction for absolutely nothing; that of all the foolish, inept, hopeless people in the world he should receive more pity.

But most Christians today enjoy their safety and comfort, we cling to it. Hypothetically– If our hope in Christ was wrong, and today we were to die with what we had sacrificed the sake of Christ I don’t think many of us would be pitied at all. In FACT I think many of us would be envied for what we had, and what we held onto, for what we refused to give up for the sake of the Gospel.

In the following verse 1Cor 15:20 Paul states “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead…” We know Paul’s really set up in Heaven (to put it bluntly); I can’t imagine the abounding joy he now experiences in his Savior, OUR Savior. He has a joy and a treasure that is free to all Christian who seek Christ. So what keeps us, what keeps our church from realizing “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus”? Why is it such a difficult concept for believers to put into perspective?

This is my struggle.