There are some things in life that we need
to remember, like our car keys. We all know what it is like when we need a key
and we forgot it or can't find it. Frustration! At that moment we get consumed,
don't we? Nothing else seems to matter. For some people just remembering their
name is something important! The Silver Alerts on Florida highways emphasize
this.
For most of us, the things we forget aren’t
really that important. Buying milk, paying the electric bill, and feeding the
cat are not as important as helping a choking child, bringing a meal to a
bedbound mother of three toddlers, or taking the car keys out of a drunk
friend’s hands. Oops won’t suffice.
The same is true in our spiritual life. Some
things are necessary for us to know and believe if we are to have eternal life.
Paul outlines them starting in verse three. Christ died. His death was what the
Old Testament Scriptures had said would happen to the Messiah. He was placed in
a grave where He stayed until the third day. On the third day He was raised
back to life just as the Old Testament Scriptures had said would happen. Then
He appeared to individuals, groups and crowds. This wasn’t a secret
reappearing, or a spiritual resurrection. This was the real death deal.
This is what the Corinthian believers were
in danger of forgetting. There are not many things that make up the core of the
Gospel. This is pretty much what is important, and what we must not forget.
Without it we are sunk! Other things might be helpful and beneficial, but they
don’t rate as important as these things. Don’t forget it!