We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed . . . we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself.

Devotion based on 2 Corinthians 4:8,9,14

On July 4, 1776, the American Declaration of Independence was signed. In its prologue were these words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

American politics is full of debates and arguments about the best ways to preserve those so-called unalienable rights. But governments and politicians can’t prevent death, nor can they make us truly free or create a path to uninhibited happiness.

Today’s Bible verse describes a life that doesn’t sound very happy: “hard pressed… perplexed… persecuted… struck down.” As he writes about the Christian life, the author doesn’t promise that life will be easy and carefree—exactly the opposite. But he does seem to give some hope. He writes that, even though all those things are true, we aren’t “crushed… in despair… abandoned… destroyed.”

It may sound like a never-say-die attitude. “Don’t give up. Look on the bright side. Make the best of it.” But our confidence doesn’t come from our own determination or efforts to fight back against what threatens us and overthrow our enemies.

It comes from knowing the one who has already done that for us. “The one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus.” Jesus fought for freedom from death itself. He won that fight by overturning the cause of death—mankind’s disobedience of God’s perfect laws. By living a perfect life and dying an innocent death, he paid the price for our sins once and for all. His rising from the dead was proof that death’s claim on us was ended because our guilt was gone.

Because Jesus rose from the dead, so will we. He gives us life that never ends, liberty from guilt and the grave, and perfect happiness that lasts forever.

Prayer: