One Life to Live?

We're not talking about the soap opera today -- but the idea that one chance at life is all you have.

Play poker long enough, and you'll see some amazing comebacks. We've had a few -- and a recent one led to this exchange online:

SupraFrank: flop u got 9 lives
Me: Well, at least 2.
Dealer: rodhar83 wins Main Pot ($1580) with Two pair, kings and queens
Me: There's this life - and the one to come. :-)

The discussion didn't get beyond that -- but do you understand what we mean? The apostle Paul did.

"If only for this life we have hope in Christ," he wrote in I Corinthians 15:19, "we are to be pitied more than all men." In other words: we're born, we die, that's it.

But no -- "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.... as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him" (vs. 22-23).

Jesus was resurrected from the grave -- and someday, believers will be too! And the good news doesn't stop there.

"We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.... For the perishable just clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality" (vs. 51-53). Believers will have immortal bodies, and eternal life!

If you're in a poker slump and wondering where your life is going, we encourage you to read all of I Corinthians 15. It's a chapter offering hope of the greatest comeback possible.