Category: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: John 20:19

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“When it was evening of that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.'”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

How do we know Jesus rose from the dead? That’s one of those big questions that doesn’t seem so big until we really think about it for a minute. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then the whole of the Christian faith collapses into a giant heap which, frankly, isn’t worth even trying to rebuild. Of all the apologetic questions people ask about the faith, this one is by far the most significant. So again, how do we know? 

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Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

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“So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Last time we looked at this thing Paul said about being away from the body and at home with the Lord being preferable to remaining here. It’s the kind of statement that naturally draws some attention to itself. What’s it mean?

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Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 5:5

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“Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

We’ve been talking for a few days about Paul’s thoughts on life after death now. We’ve talked in particular about this sense of eternality that dwells in the hearts of people. We’ve also talked about the fact that we only gain any substance for this otherwise empty hope in Christ. Apart from Him, we don’t have anything to go on but wishful thinking that plays itself out in a variety of mostly ultimately harmful ways. In Christ, though, things get very much more solid. The reason for this is the Spirit. 

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Digging in Deeper: Joel 2:12

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“‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;’”‬‬ (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been so deep in a mess of your own making that you figured you were just going to have to ride it out and endure it until the end? That’s an awful place to be. Is there anything we can do there other than to simply hang on for dear life? As a matter of fact there is. We can repent. 

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Digging in Deeper: 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

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“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

If this world is all there is, there is no reason to endure any amount of chronic suffering, particularly if we don’t have any reasonable expectation that it will end. That’s what we established the first time we examined these words. If this world is all there is, a great deal of what we do becomes meaningless. In fact, all of it does, but the hard stuff in particular. If this world is not all there is, however, everything changes. 

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