Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm.
Let nothing move you.
1 Corinthians 15:58

Sometimes there are verses that are pretty self-explanatory,
And then there are verses written by Paul.

A little background to this one –
Paul was writing about resurrection.
Specifically, about Jesus’ resurrection and what it means for us.
People were worried.
Their loved ones were dying and they weren’t sure what it meant in this new way of Christ.
Paul was reminding them that there is a resurrection hope for everyone.
That Jesus’ death and resurrection can be connected to our own.
“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
This is big stuff.
Hard stuff.
And yet, it is stuff we still worry about.

We had Ash Wednesday in the church a week ago already,
and on that day we come face to face with our own mortality.
Remember you are dust – and to dust you shall return.
Ugh.
It’s so hard to hear this blatant, blunt reminder of our imminent death.
We’d rather not hear it at all.
But then there it is. On a big ol cross of ashes on our forehead.
Hard to ignore at that moment isn’t it?

Death is like that.
It isn’t something we want to think about,
talk about,
or even acknowledge is a reality in our lives.
And then someone we love dies.
And there it is.
Front and center.
Unable to be ignored.

So we worry.
And Paul knows this.
He knows the weight of losing people we love,
The worry of wondering if we’ll see them again,
And what that might be like.
But he says the “last enemy to be destroyed is death”.
And Jesus did it.
“Death has been swallowed up in victory”
So calm the heck down.
(ok that’s paraphrasing a bit, but you get the idea)
Paul reminds the worrying church in Corinth that death is not something to fear,
That when we remember that death doesn’t have the final word anymore,
Then we can look it in the face and say “death, where is your sting?”
You’ve got NOTHING on Christ.

So.

Knowing this,
Confident in this truth,
Paul says then we stand firm.
We can weather all sorts of storms without being moved.
Because we have this promise.
This hope.
And we know that in the end, there is nothing,
No fear,
No worry,
No illness,
No grief,
Nothing at all,
Bigger than God.
God wins.
Always.
So we can stand firm.
And not be moved.
No matter what.