2 Corinthians 1:8-11

"Utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself...Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death."

So much for "your best life now." Burdens, weakness, despair, and death sentences are part and parcel of the Christian life. To dismiss this reality is to dismiss the gospel itself. It is into these very things that God acts decisively and eternally and we learn to rely, again and again, on "God who raises the dead."

Tim Keller once said, "Jesus didn't suffer on the cross so that you would not suffer. He suffered so that when you suffer, you become more like Jesus," who in His righteousness relied in complete confidence on the God who delivers.

As we become more like Jesus, we learn to rejoice in all things, trusting in the God who delivers, who even raises us from the dead. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!