Ripple Effects Reading Plan – W3D5

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Ripple Effect Reading | Week 3 | Day 5

Prayer

As you come to spend time with Jesus, calm your mind and body until you feel fully present. Thank Jesus that he came to save you!

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

Read these verses three times slowly.

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Reflection & Questions

No one likes to work for nothing. You have likely experienced a situation where you have done something, only for someone else to come along and redo all the work you have done. Or, you typed up that essay, only to somehow lose it when the computer crashes. Or you have gone to all the work to present a new idea to the boss, and it just gets ignored. That is work in vain. That is work for nothing.

This is something that is never true for the work that the believer does for the Lord. The promise for the believer is “your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” The reality is that the work we do for Jesus will last forever. As Paul writes, believers will live forever. Death is not the end. Whatever we do for Jesus will make a ripple effect that will last for eternity!

“Therefore,” Paul writes, “Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord.” Don’t hold back. Work for the Lord will reap eternal results. It’s the complete opposite to working “in vain.” So let’s give ourselves to it wholeheartedly! The ripples will never end.

1. What encourages you from these verses today?
2. Are you giving yourself fully to the work of the Lord? If not, why not?

Prayer

Talk to God in response to the reading today.

Worship Song

You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:

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Questions?