In his second letter to Timothy, Paul writes,
“If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign with him.”
2 Timothy 2:11-12
Our lives are generally more comfortable than Paul’s or Timothy’s and more comfortable than the lives of the new Christians of Corinth. They had to put up with hatred from many fellow Jews and attacks from Roman authorities. They were treated as an illegal sect in the early centuries, they were expelled and so they’re gathering in secret catacombs. Perhaps we too will gather in secret soon and wonder, ‘Where is God?’
We must not forget that it is in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ that our lives are headed and that we meet him daily in the cross he gives us.
This is what hope means: to live with him now. In sickness, in chains, in plenty – we long to be with him, not alone in our small kingdom. He is a true king, who asks us to walk with him, and then invites us to reign – he has taken on and redeemed our humanity in his own bodily resurrection! He invites us to join him.
Paul reminds the new Christians that there is a hope and a future, and it is real because of the resurrection. If He is Not Risen, we might as well worship Roman gods and seek our own pleasures.
Let us, his followers, take courage in Christ’s rising, because it means your life has a purpose! You are headed to be with him forever and the daily sacrifices you offer him now are not in vain.
This reflection by Dominic Perrem is excerpted from the Pray by Day column featured in the Sword of the Spirit website.
Top sunrise landscape banner by Living Bulwark graphic designer. Background cropped pic from bigstock.com. Used with permission.
Dominic Perrem is a coordinator in The Community of Nazareth in Dublin, Ireland.