What Counts?

Posted: Friday, May 28, 2010 3:32 pm

The Messenger, May 27, 2010
By members of the Obion County Ministerial Association
If someone asked you the question, “In your opinion what counts most in this life?” would you be ready to give an answer?
I might tell them that knowledge of the Bible is of the utmost importance because it gives you a lot of history, life lessons and tells you how to be saved. I might share about the story of Moses and how God used him to deliver the people out of bondage and made a covenant with him and the people to be their God.
Or I might tell about Jonah and the big fish who swallowed him and later spit him out on the shore of Nineveh where he preached bringing about the salvation of a whole nation.
I might tell about King David and recite to him the 23rd Psalm, But in my mind I thought, does this really explain to an individual what they need to know that will count most to them on a personal level?
Then I thought of I Corinthians 15:3-5: “For I handed to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. And he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”
There it is, the resurrection.
We sing about it, hear it at funerals, in sermons and are reminded during the Easter season of Jesus’ resurrection. As children of God we are also promised a resurrection into our eternal home where He is preparing a place for us. To ignore the resurrection is to miss the point and what counts most in life and certainly in death. What counts most is that the Jesus who hung on a cross could not be destroyed. Death could not take him and the grave could not hold him. He was resurrected and He awaits our homecoming.
There are many religions, but only Christianity claims a savior who bled and died, was buried, and on the third day was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven. This is what counts most in our lives; to know Jesus, His sacrifice and His resurrection.
His promise is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He extends the hope of the resurrection to all who repent, believe and follow Him.
Be ready always to give an answer to anyone who asks you what really counts in life and share about your hope in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of mankind.
Rev. Judd Mowery
Troy/Sanders Chapel United Methodist churches