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Author: Dominic Perrem, National Director for Alpha Ireland, and member of The Community of Nazareth in Dublin, Ireland.

Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)

Did you ever wake up and realise you just don’t know? Did you ever come to a point of seeing that you cannot access the truth, that you do not have all the answers? It’s uncomfortable—not knowing means we do not have real power over what will happen. Predicting global warming, economic futures, political commentary, the world is obsessed with answers and control because we doubt the future and fight for certainty. 

Perhaps you’ve been sick or unable to overcome fears or doubts. Perhaps you are falling victim to temptation time and time again. Fixing everything, having power over life, achieving mastery over sin—these were never things you could have done. You never had the power to conquer the world, or overcome your own frailty. The good news is that you don’t have to because someone has opened the door to life and freedom for you. This is the resurrection!

If Jesus did not conquer sin and death, then all our hopes and dreams are for nothing. There would be no life after death or redemption from sin and frailty. We really would be pitiable, trying to perfect ourselves for nothing. If Jesus did not conquer sin and death, we might as well try to gain as much power as we can, forget about longing for freedom and life with God. But we have been given a promise of something so far beyond the trials we face now, so that we should not just turn to the world for pleasure, or give up on the fight to serve God. We have the chance to follow Jesus when all of this is over—we have been given permission to hope in Heaven. If heaven is not real, you fight for nothing. Heaven is real - so don’t give up on hope today. The resurrection is real, and you are not to be pitied. There is a hope and a future, and it is not in this world, but in the next. 

Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.