And what value was there in fighting wild beasts—those people of Ephesus—if there will be no resurrection from the dead? And if there is no resurrection, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

1 Corinthians 15: 32 (NLT)

Last night at our Bible study, one of the guys made mention of all of the competing religions in our world. Why is it that people should take us more seriously than the view of anyone else? The truth of our claims is again found in the simple message of Jesus’ resurrection. If the resurrection is true, then all of what Jesus proclaimed is true. If not, we’re wasting our time.

remember vividly how a psychiatrist I knew once spoke to me of her family’s plans for Easter. She told me her family faces some conflict around Christmas and Easter since her husband was raised Roman Catholic and she was not. And then she told me something completely unexpected. She said her church was the local Unitarian Universalist church. While they pride themselves on having open, inclusive views of faith, they deny anything supernatural and believes that, at best, Jesus was an inspirational spiritual leader and nothing more. And so Easter has no real meaning in her life outside of an Easter Egg hunt for her kids.

The truth is that each one of us is betting our life on something. My Orthodox Jewish friend is betting that following the teaching of the Torah and Talmud will bring him into good favor with God. My Hindu friend places his faith in the religion of his ancestors. My Muslim friend leans on the Quran and Mohammed and hopes to somehow earn the favor of Allah.

Many other people I know bet the outcome of their life on their relatively good behavior as if God grades on a curve. And then there are those who believe that life simply ends and then there is nothing.

In contrast to other worldviews, the follower of Christ is staking a claim on the literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus. If that’s not true, “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”