{"id":367,"date":"2019-05-06T23:50:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T04:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/?p=367"},"modified":"2019-05-06T23:50:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T04:50:07","slug":"if-only-for-this-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/2019\/05\/06\/if-only-for-this-life\/","title":{"rendered":"If Only For This Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
If Our Hope Were Only For This Life\u00a0<\/td><\/tr>
TUESDAY May 7, 2019<\/td><\/tr>
\u201cAnd if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.  He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.\u201d \u2013 1 Corinthians 15:19-20<\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/tr>
The LONG and Short of it<\/td><\/tr>
I have heard some people say that even if Christianity isn\u2019t true, it is still a good way to live and still gives people hope, as if nothing would be lost if we died and found out it weren\u2019t true.\u00a0\u00a0On the surface I guess that seems true, if Christianity just means I am nice to people, read Bible verses that make me feel good, and keep living my life pretty much how I want to.
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However, that flies in the face of what the Bible actually says.\u00a0\u00a0If Christ has not risen, if heaven is not true, then we Christians are to be pitied more than anyone else in the world!\u00a0\u00a0Why?\u00a0\u00a0I think that this verse is assuming that we are putting so much time, energy, money, resources, and effort into obeying Christ, sacrificially loving others, and telling people about God, that if it were not true, people would say of our lives, \u201cWhat a waste!\u201d
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Yet we are sure that this is true! \u00a0We are banking everything on the fact that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and that everything He said is true.\u00a0\u00a0If it were not, coming to Papua New Guinea, missing family and friends, risking health and happiness, everything we are doing and everything we are sacrificing is worthless.\u00a0\u00a0I would not look back at my life and say, \u201cThat\u2019s ok.\u00a0\u00a0It was still a good life.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0I would say, \u201cWhat a waste!\u00a0\u00a0Poor me!\u201d\u00a0But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead!\u00a0\u00a0And He\u2019s just the first, with all who believe in Him to follow.\u00a0\u00a0This is the greatest news.\u00a0\u00a0This earthly life is way too short and way too sad for this to be all we are living for.\u00a0That\u2019s why we are here in PNG- so that people can know: this life is not all there is!\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s why we celebrated Easter last month, and that\u2019s why we are thankful that you all, our supporters, have sent us here.
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Currently we are packing up our house and getting ready to move to the nearby center. \u00a0Please pray for us as, even though we are excited about what is ahead, transitions are always hard.

Till all know,
Matt, Karissa, Ty, and Wyck

Please Pray:
– For our transition to the new center
– Ty will visit the MK school soon. \u00a0Please pray that he likes it and will be excited about going there next year.
– That God will continue to lead and guide, and fill our hearts with His peace and joy

Praise God:
– He continues to provide for our needs
– He is at work in PNG!<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n
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If Our Hope Were Only For This Life\u00a0 TUESDAY May 7, 2019 \u201cAnd if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.  He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1074,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1074"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/matt-long\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}