Living In His Light By Nina SmitSample

A Living Hope

Many people are afraid of death, yet this is so unnecessary because we know that we belong to God. For Christians, death never has the last word. Rather, it is a transition to our real lives. With His resurrection, Jesus conquered death and thereby made it possible for us to do the same. For you, therefore, death need never have the last word. 

If you don’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, your faith is futile. Then you are still trapped in sin, Paul explains to the church in Corinth (see 1 Corinthians 15:17). But if you believe in Jesus’ resurrection and died together with Him, you have the assurance—according to today’s verse—that, like Him, you too will one day rise from the dead and live with Him forever. Then you have “living hope” in the everlasting inheritance that He is keeping for you. 

When Jesus rose from the dead, He overcame death forever. Death is no longer the feared conqueror, because Jesus came and took the sting out of it. When we ourselves face death, we will receive new bodies of resurrection. Our mortal, earthly bodies will turn into immortal heavenly bodies over which death has no power. With His death and resurrection, Jesus finally eradicated the power of death. You therefore need no longer fear death.

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, thank You for dying and rising from the dead so that if I believe in You, I will one day be able to rise to a new life and live forever in heaven with You. Amen.