Does your life indicate that you are absolutely convinced of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, including the resurrection? I’m not asking: Do you think you’ll go to heaven? I am asking: What motivates and drives the foundational aspects of your life? Can someone look on and quickly conclude that you live with a set of convictions that is greatly distinct from the cultural norm?
This is a crucial question because mere words of one’s association with Christ are pretty much worthless without the fruit of those words becoming manifest in your life. Thankfully, the NT actually gives us some helpful standards of assessment with regards to the legitimacy of our belief in specifically the resurrection of Christ. First–How do you deal with sin? Romans ch. 6 states that those who truly believe in the resurrection live entirely new lives, having been freed from the bondage of sin. Next, Romans ch.8 identifies that the object of our hope must not be in changed circumstances, but rather in the final redemption as our bodies are glorified and made perfect. Lastly, 1 Cor. 15:58 teaches that our belief in the resurrection should produce a life of laboring and spending ourselves not for that which is vain and temporal, but rather a life of abounding in the work of the Lord with increasing resolve, knowing that the rewards for that are eternal and cannot be taken away.
So has our belief in the resurrection produced power over sin, hope in suffering and fervency in service?