What really matters in this life? Does the job promotion matter? Does the lower golf handicap matter? Does the lake house, the degree or the new car matter? Throughout the centuries mankind has struggled to figure out what really matters in this life. We have all seen the effects of a poor decision.

The retired CEO who doesn’t know his kids. The couple who invested so much time and attention in their kid’s college dreams, who now sit across from each other as strangers. The kids are gone, and so is the marriage. The pastor who pours into his flock but forgets his family.

The struggle to figure out what is most important affects all of us. I love this quote by author and theologian Jaroslav Pelikan:

“If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen, nothing else matters.” — Jaroslav Pelikan

If Christ is Risen
If Christ is risen, then nothing else matters. The job, the promotion, the accolades and the car simply don’t matter in light of the resurrection. The search for the temporal is replaced by the reality of the eternal. If Christ is risen, and eternity waits in the wings, then nothing in this world is worth pursuing more than Christ. The resurrection of Christ gives us perspective on prioirties.

If Christ is Not Risen
If Christ is risen, and nothing else matters, then one would assume that if Christ is not risen, then everything would matter. The paradoxical truth, however, is that if Christ is not risen, then nothing else matters. Without the resurrection, everything is futile.

If Christ is not risen, then everything is in vain. The person who dies with the largest house merely dies. The person with the most accolades still goes to the grave. As one humanist philosopher stated, we are all merely food for worms, and we are all destined for the same place.

This Easter, we celebrate the only thing that matters: Jesus Christ. Everything depends on him!