But in Fact, Christ Has Been Raised From the Dead

Meditations for Ragamuffins

June 30, 2023

But in Fact, Christ Has Been Raised From the Dead

“And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless”

1 Corinthians 15:14

I believe the greatest threat to Twenty-First Century culture is the vacuum that was left when society ushered religious faith to the exit door. In the latter days of the last century, state legislatures would publish directories of their elected officials. Included with the brief biography of the official was a listing of their religion. This practice was dropped when most of the officials stopped listing any religious affiliation. This is representative of the larger society where the Judeo-Christian moral and ethical heritage in the USA has been replaced with nothing; hence the vacuum. If society is to govern themselves with ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, what is the basis of their beliefs? If society removes a belief in the sanctity of human life created by God, what then is the basis for respect of human life? How do you teach these beliefs, and to what do you point as authority for societal beliefs?

My Takeaway: For the followers of Jesus, we can point to the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-6-7) as the standard by which we govern our human interactions with God and one another. Someone may ask us, “Why should those words from antiquity still be valid today?” “Because Jesus lives,” we respond. The one who spoke those words was resurrected from the dead, and he lives today! His words are valid today because he is alive today!

“And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.  But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.”

1 Corinthians 15:14, 20

Sē’lah

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This series of meditations are inspired by the writings of Brennan Manning, author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, and many other books.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.