Listen

Brothers and sisters, I want to call your attention to the good news that I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand. You are being saved through it if you hold on to the message I preached to you, unless somehow you believed it for nothing. I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time.

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

Think

These verses come at the end of Paul’s letter to the early Christians in Corinth. He has written so much already, and here at the end he is pausing to remind them of what this is all about. It’s about the Gospel. Their call to work well together and honor and value one another and be unified in their work together in the world is about Jesus, who conquered death and revealed his resurrected self to many of his followers as proof of that triumph.

When we live our lives in response to God’s call on our life, we have to always keep this truth in front of us. Our call is not about us; it’s about continuing the mission of Christ in the world. We, each of us, and no one more so than any other, are necessary to continuing that mission, but it’s still not about us. It’s about the One who died and who was raised because love wins. It’s about the One who sets us free to love like he did.

Emily Peck-McClain

Pray

God, you are God of my community. I pray that we remember we are called to act in your name and on behalf of you in the world. Compel us to keep aware that our mission is your mission and all because of the One who loved us enough to die and to conquer death. In the name of that One, I pray, amen.

Go

Whatever you do, whether in speech or action, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17