For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:16-19 NIV)
When my beloved grandmother went to be with the Lord earlier this year, we found comfort in the hope that we will see her again someday, that it wasn’t a “Goodbye” but “See you later.” And as I occasionally visit her grave, I’m reminded that although absent in the body, she’s at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). I am comforted in knowing that although her life on earth has ended, she’s living a new and better one in Heaven, and one day she will be resurrected. This is not wishful thinking because I’m a firm believer that if Jesus was raised to life, we will all be raised to life as well.
See when the Corinthian Christians were doubting that the dead in Christ would rise again, the apostle Paul settled it once and for all by writing, “For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” Our hope in Christ doesn’t carry us until death, it carries us into eternity. Life doesn’t end when we die. A new life awaits us and one day we will be resurrected from our graves. May the hope of the resurrection fill every heart and comfort the one that is grieving.
Rising with the Son 