(By Theanna Joyce)
Have you ever been inside a house of mirrors? Floor to ceiling, everywhere you turn you can only see yourself. The guy at the front says to hold your hands out in front of you, and you think that’s unnecessary until you take a confident step forward and end up banging your nose against what you thought was the path but is actually a mirror. In 1 Corinthians, Paul tells us to hold our hands out in front of us and not to be fooled by the illusions of the enemy.
The city of Corinth was where Paul spent 18 months in his 2nd missionary journey. He knew it well. He knew that it was a large city of wealth and paganism, with temples and shrines built to many different Roman gods, and a culture in which everyone strove to outdo each other for prestige and power.[1] To the Christians surrounded by this, Paul writes: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31).
The first step of living the resurrected life is knowing no one but Christ. In a house of mirrors, you might think the space in front of you is empty and open when that’s only an illusion.
Satan is very skilled at tricking us into believing any number of lies. Maybe the lie is that power and prestige will satisfy you; maybe it’s that you can hold onto your sin with one hand and God with the other. If we are to notice these lies and reject them, then we must know the truth!
Thankfully, God is not some distant entity who disdainfully watches us stumble around and hurt ourselves. Rather, He is our Father, full of grace, and He desires to walk with us and gently lead us into life (Colossians 2:6; Psalm 16:11).
Resurrected living implies new life. This life is not characterized by the same rules and behaviors as the old. This life is something different. It’s not perfection (that’d be another lie), nor is it a pretty exterior that covers up cracks and brokenness.
Paul calls us to let go of sin so that we will not be enslaved and live the lives God has called us to (1 Corinthians 6:12, 7:17). To be honest, I think it would be more exciting if resurrected living looked like walking on water, but it more often looks like simple obedience: Keeping the commands of God. Loving your neighbor. Giving your shirt to the one who would steal your coat. Lending without expecting a return.
The words come easily, but I’m trying to live this out in Christ’s strength. It is His grace that enables us (1 Corinthians 15:10). 1 Corinthians 15:49 speaks of bearing the image of the man of heaven, and I rejoice that we have victory in Christ (a present reality!) and pray that I remain faithful until that day when I will see his face clearly.
“Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).
1 Drake Williams, “Corinthians, First Letter to the,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).