Victory!

Victory!

O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin [by which it brings death] is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory [as conquerors] through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:55‭-‬57 AMP

Paul used the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 to speak about the life after this present phase. The foundation of the life to come was laid at the point where the perfect life God intended was polluted by sin. God's perfect plan was for man to live forever, without sin and without the law. There was no need for the law because in the Garden of Eden, there was no sin. Man had his mandate - to rule, to subdue, to multiply and to obey God consistently. But as soon as sin came, man lost the original life, and settled for less than God's perfect plan. Now, we struggle in this weak, mortal body, as we wait for the transformation God alone is able to birth in us.

Death was the natural consequences of sin, and death is powerful. It does not respect boundaries, because it does not obey any of man's natural laws. It came with man's disobedience, and it is permanent. Only in Christ is any man free from its grip, and only a person who has tasted the kind of life available only in God can say the kind of words in today's extract. Death has a finality about it; when it comes, it pay no attention to your feelings or desires. All who are subject to the law are subject to the consequences, which is death. If I will be free of the consequences, then I have to be inside God, the only one through whom total victory is sure, certain and guaranteed.

Indeed, I can only thank God for what he has done. Nothing I did could ever secure the life I have now, and nothing I do now can secure the life I now have. God secured it for me, and asks me to only trust and depend on Him daily. I thank God because he didn't wait for me to earn it; he paid the price once and for all. Life has been secured; life is offered full and free. One day soon, that life will speak and demand an accounting. Can it be said that indeed, I have true victory? Am I still relying on good works, charity or morality? The only thing that works is Jesus, and he is the only One  that secures life. Am I saved and safe? His time of favour is here