1 Corinthians 15:32-33 (New International Version)
32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than
human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and
drink,
for tomorrow we
die.”
33 Do not be
misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
The following story is reported to be true, but cannot be
verified: After the "Cold War" was over, a squadron of Russian pilots
was invited to participate in tactical war games at a U.S. Air Force base. A
gala dinner was planned by the Base Commander. Thinking to relax the guests, he
offered a WW II toast to open the meal. Smiling, he lifted his glass and said,
in Russian, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die." The
Russian pilots became very quiet and they hardly ate; most left quite early.
Thinking they didn't care for the food, the Commander asked a Russian pilot
what went wrong.
"Well, comrade commander," he said, "I
thought it was going well until your toast. I don't know what you were meaning
to say, but what came out was 'Feast, drink and make happy, for tomorrow we
will kill you'." No matter how you translate it, it doesn't make for good
advice to live by, though it certainly fits in with our culture's view of the
purpose of life. "Live it up! We're all going to die soon, and you can't
enjoy anything beyond the grave, so just focus on bringing yourself pleasure
without regard to what is right or wrong."
It sounds very modern, but it's been around a long, long
time. In fact, Paul said it was a philosophy that might make sense if there was
no hope of a resurrection for us.
But knowing that there will be a resurrection and a
judgment and an eternity to follow, we know that there has to be more to guide
our lives than just the satisfaction of personal pleasure.
So go ahead and eat and drink (and even make merry), but
be careful not to take God out of the picture, for tomorrow you may die.
Dear Lord we pray that all we do we will keep You in it.
We thank You for the life You have given to us we pray that we will bring honor
to You in all things that we do. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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