“Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died. Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.” — G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man
Death cannot kill Christianity. Because He rose, His people cannot stay down. They can be beaten and buried, but only the way a seed is. If you break their shells and stuff them in the ground, they spring up all the more plentiful. If you set them on fire, you only serve to remove their outer resin, like a serotinous cone, so that they can sprout.
“The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church." — Tertullian
Resurrection rules the world. You cannot keep it down. By definition, it rises every time.
Philippians 3:10
That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.
If you die a death like Christ's, you will rise from the dead like He did. If you are in Him, you will rise and rule with Him. You cannot be made into a footstool even by those who would stamp you into the dirt. They only plant you and give you access to deeper roots for Act II.
Romans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In Christ, we are more than conquerors, but not less. We are not merely conquerors of the worldly sort, but conquistadors of Christendom. The difference being that a conqueror can be defeated, but a Christian will be resurrected. The Christian conquers even if he is killed.
"Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God’s character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it — the love of God in Christ Jesus. 'Out of the wreck I rise' every time." — Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
So, get to work.
In Christ, your labors are not lame. They can get their legs knocked out from underneath them, but they cannot stay down if they are grounded in God. Love like that sprouts up from the dirt every time.
Micah 7:8
Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.
The righteous are not rugs, they are the feet of Christ.
Romans 16:20
And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
The enemies of God end up underfoot, but not His friends.
1 Corinthians 15:25
For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet.
So, if you are beaten down, bear up.
Your Redeemer lives and He lives to crush the fiends of Hell.
You will rise again and raze the wicked.
Proverbs 24:16
For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again:
but the wicked shall fall into mischief.
A good man does not fall for the lie that says that good men cannot fall.
You may fail more than once, but you will not fail to rise.
He who promised is faithful and He will do it.
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
Get to work for He who works within you is mighty to save and faithful to deliver.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Nothing done by grace through faith in Christ alone is a waste of time or effort.
God loves an eleventh hour rescue. Denouements are divine. He loves the tension of an impossible situation and the resolution of a miraculous deliverance. He has written this story again and again in microcosm and it is the overall trajectory of the metamarrative. God loves narrows escapes and defeating the wicked in the midst of their end zone dancing. He likes letting the world strut before He sits them down.
"The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God's paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle - and not lose it." — G.K. Chesterton
If the Head is above water, the body can breath. As long as Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, the body of Christ will survive. As long as He breathes, we live. We are free to risk it all for Him because He is a safe bet.
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