Light + Truth If Christ Is Not Raised, Live Comfortably
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Apr 9, 2026 
John Piper, Reformed theologian and founder of Desiring God, reflects on resurrection hope and Christian living. He contrasts hollow comfort with costly discipleship. He explains Paul’s claim that without resurrection believers are pitiable. He explores suffering as mission, how saints’ hardships communicate Christ to unreached peoples, and why future hope fuels present endurance.
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Wurmbrandt's Abbot Story On Holiness Without Reward
- Richard Wurmbrandt recounts an Italian newscaster asking a Cistercian abbot if atheism were true, would his life still be well used.
- The abbot answered that holiness, silence, and sacrifice are beautiful even without promised reward.
Resurrection Makes Suffering Meaningful
- Paul sees the Christian life as meaningful only because of resurrection hope, not merely as a good ethical or comfortable life.
- John Piper contrasts Paul's “if for this life only” verdict with the abbot's claim that holiness is intrinsically worthwhile, showing Paul's hope grounds suffering's meaning.
Eat and Drink Means Live Comfortably
- 'Let us eat and drink' in 1 Corinthians 15 means living a normal comfortable life if there is no resurrection, not indulgent debauchery.
- Piper argues the rational response without hope is to maximize legitimate pleasures: house, job, family, retirement and then nothing.
