Dead Or Alive

Read Acts 25

The Jews had some questions against Paul about their own
religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died,
whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
(Acts 25:19)

Food For Thought… That is really the crux of the argument for, or against, Christianity, isn’t it? Is Jesus dead and buried—end of story! Or did he die but rise from the grave, alive forevermore?

Of course, we who follow Christ stake our claim on the latter. That is the crux of Christianity. We will go to the death for that belief, because it is all that matters. As the great historian Jaroslav Pelikan so simply yet profoundly put it,

“If Christ is risen—nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen—nothing else matters.”

An African Muslim converted to Christianity. Some of his friends asked him, “Why have you become a Christian?” He answered, “Well, its like this. Suppose you were going down the road and suddenly the road forked in two directions, and you didn’t know which way to go, and there at the fork in the road were two men, one dead and one alive. Which one would you ask which way to go?”

Jesus is either dead or alive. If he is dead, then our Christian faith is worse than worthless because it is history’s worst fraud. But if Jesus is alive, it is history’s greatest miracle by miles. If Jesus is alive, we ought to ask him which way to go, and then drop everything to follow him. If Jesus is alive, we ought to make him the core of our lives, the purpose of our existence, and the passion of our every breath. If Jesus is alive, he must become the foundation of our faith, the reason for our hope, and the source of our love. The Apostle Peter, who witnessed his bodily resurrection from the tomb, said,

“Through Jesus, you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. (I Peter 1:21-22)

Is he dead or alive? I am banking my eternal existence that he is alive!

Prayer… Jesus, you are the Risen One, and I will follow you with all my being—heart, mind, soul and strength.

One More Thing… “Without the hope of eternal life, this life is not worth the effort of getting dressed in the morning.” —Count Bismarck