Without a hope for resurrection and everlasting joy with Christ we all tend to treat this life as a place where we have to squeeze out as much pleasure as we can and take as few risks as we can. Because there is nothing else. -- John Piper
As I was killing time at a friend's house last week, I came across this ad in a November issue of People magazine. I think I spent more time contemplating it than any of the articles. I was baffled. It seemed to me that some marketing guy had looked up 1 Corinthians 15:30-33 and thought, "Gee, this would make a great ad for a Las Vegas hotel!" Here's what the apostle Paul says (from The Message version of the Bible):And why do you think I keep risking my neck in this dangerous work? I look death in the face practically every day I live. Do you think I'd do this if I wasn't convinced of your resurrection and mine as guaranteed by the resurrected Messiah Jesus? Do you think I was just trying to act heroic when I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus, hoping it wouldn't be the end of me? Not on your life! It's resurrection, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there's no resurrection, "We eat, we drink, the next day we die," and that's all there is to it. But don't fool yourselves. Don't let yourselves be poisoned by this anti-resurrection loose talk.
If the premise of the ad is correct, if one day you'll just be dead in the ground, nothing left but rotting bones, then really you ought to just go spend your time on all fours at the New York, New York Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. Restraint is foolish. As the New Living Translation says, "Let's feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!"
I certainly shouldn't be living in Puerto Supe when I could easily afford to live somewhere else-- with constant running water, peace and quiet, people I can relate to, grass and trees, restaurants and grocery stores, air conditioning and heat.
I'd like to say that even if I did believe all of this, I wouldn't fall for the "life" offered at the New York, New York Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. I'd like to say that I'd pursue comfort and joy in gourmet food, extravagantly lush living, quality things (my current temptations). I almost did say it (write it) in fact. Then I remembered how I spent my first few months of college, the last few months before God turned my life around. Suffice it to say that I have no proof that I wouldn't be working at the New York, New York by now.
Well the truth is that I don't believe one day I'll be dead. My understanding of life is that there's this one (short) and the next one (forever). The choice I make in this one-- to put my faith in Jesus or not-- determines my joy or pain in the next. I absolutely disagree with the premise of the ad, and because I do, my view on how I should use and spend my life is drastically different.
Some famous philosopher (I can't remember who for the life of me!) asserted once that even if Christianity weren't true, it would still offer the best way to live. Paul disagrees. In his same letter to the Corinthians, he says, "If our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world" (1 Cor 15:19). If one day I'll just be rotting bones, this ad is smart and I'm the dumb one-- wasting my life away when I could be having loads of fun in Las Vegas.
"But since Christ has been raised, and since by trusting in him we will be raised with him, then this life of radical, sacrificial love is not to be pitied" (John Piper, emphasis mine). Pity the one who falls for the New York, New York trap, but don't pity me. I've got an eternity of joy awaiting me, and the hope of it brings joy and peace in the midst of any suffering I'm experiencing here.
"But since Christ has been raised, and since by trusting in him we will be raised with him, then this life of radical, sacrificial love is not to be pitied" (John Piper, emphasis mine). Pity the one who falls for the New York, New York trap, but don't pity me. I've got an eternity of joy awaiting me, and the hope of it brings joy and peace in the midst of any suffering I'm experiencing here.
