{Monday Meditations} If Jesus Didn't Resurrect

Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain."

"If Jesus didn't Resurrect"

My devotional today gave me this thought: "Could I go to heaven if Jesus had not risen from the dead?" That was an interesting thought for me...a scary thought actually. I never thought about Jesus not dying on the cross and not having victory over death. The world would be much different if Jesus did not come to this world to be our Savior. The verse I chose for today simply states what it would be like if Christ did not conquer death. There would be nothing to preach and nothing to have faith in. The word vain has multiple meanings. In this verse, vain is defined as "having no meaning or likelihood of fulfillment". There would be no reason to preach...there would be nothing to preach about. If Jesus didn't come, the prophets would have all been lying and there would be no purpose to preach. And if there is nothing to preach about, then we have nothing to place our faith in. We would have no one to trust in and confide in.

This truly is a terrible thought. It is interesting to ponder about life without Christ and to see how lost we all would be, but it is scary to imagine everyone lost and with no one to turn too. Without Christ, our lives would be pointless. We would live life, then in eternity we would perish forever.

However this is not the case. God had lots of grace and He decided to send His Son to die on the old rugged cross so that we would be able to live in Heaven eternally. My Youth Pastor uses this acrostic for grace. It is:

God's 

Riches 

At 

Christ's 

Expense. 

That sums up grace exactly. Grace is giving us something good we don't deserve. Mercy is sparing us from something bad that we do deserve. God graciously gave us access to Heaven while He mercifully saved us from abiding in Hell forever.

But too often we take for granted God's grace and mercy. Too often we don't thank the Lord for sending Jesus Christ. We forget about all the agony Jesus endured on that cross. We forget how that after all Jesus did for His people, the people chose Barabbas, a murderer, over Jesus. We forget about the jeering crowds and the evil soldiers who hurt our loving Savior. We take for granted the crown of thorns that was thrust into Jesus's head. We forget about the cruel whip that lashed and shredded Jesus's back. We never think about how they ripped the beard right out of Jesus's face. We forget that the soldiers spit on Jesus and hit him. We forget that they hurt Christ so much that He was basically unrecognizable. We fail to recall that God had to turn His back on Christ because Christ was bearing our sins! We take for granted those words "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" We never take time to think about Jesus, injured, bleeding, hanging on that cross, crying out in pain and agony to His Father asking "Father! Why did You leave me?"

I am guilty for taking Jesus's death for granted. I don't always take time to thank the Lord for sending His Son. Let us never grow accustomed to hearing about Jesus's death. Let it always cause us to think and meditate on that event. Let it always cause us to praise our Savior and thank Him for His loving kindness.

A world without Jesus...no purpose...no reason to live...no point...everyone would be lost and wicked sinners. Give God thanks for sending His Son so that we have a purpose. But now let us live that purpose. Let us witness and be a testimony unto others. Let us live a life that glorifies God! Let us work hard before The Lord takes us home to Heaven...what a day that will be! 


I wrote that a year or two ago. It really hit me hard about how much I took Christ's death for granted. I wanted to share these thoughts with you. I often write things but I don't put them into action. I haven't been very thankful for Christ's sacrifice recently, but writing this post has been an excellent reminder and wake up call. Don't take Christ's selfless sacrifice for granted like I was. Always give Him praise and glory for His grace and mercy.

Thanks for reading :)