Where, O death, is your sting?

1 Corinthians 15:54-58 (New International Version)

⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."^[a]
 55"Where, O death, is your victory?
      Where, O death, is your sting?" ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
 ⁵⁸Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

I understand this verse completely but if I may be honest, I don't like the word sting being in it.  I'll tell you why in a minute (this is just my thoughts.


We found out last night that Justin's Granny isn't doing good.  Our thoughts are we are going to loose her and it's going to be sad.  As I'm lying in bed last night, thinking about loosing her my mind cannot help but think about my Grandpa (the little kids call him G), and I can't think about my Grandpa without thinking about that day...


It was a normal March day in 2008.  I went into work early that Monday morning to cover for someone that was out so I got to leave at 4.  I was at home by the time I got the call from my uncle telling me to get to my Grandma's house now.  I'm freaking out asking what is wrong with her and thinking the worse but all he can say is get there.  We live on a farm so my Grandma is down the road from me, less than a mile.  On the way there my Grandma calls me and I answer and she says that I can have my cookbook back now.  I'm confused, and ask her if she is ok and she said yes.  I call my uncle back and tell him that she just called me and she's ok.  Again, he tells me to get there and call him back once I'm there, ok.  I get to my Grandma's house and I call him and had the phone to my Grandma.  These next few minutes will forever haunt my mind.  My Grandma says WHAT? (the sound in her voice, the silence in the garage, it replays in my head, tourching me each time)  then I hear her talking about getting him (my Grandpa) back here.  My heart is pounding and I'm thinking oh Jesus, Grandpa had another heart attack and they are in Hillsboro farming and they need to get him here to a good hospital.  After a few minutes she get's off the phone and sits down in a chair and tells me G's dead.  It was like I stepped out of my body and saw myself reacting to the news that was just hurled at me.  There was an imediate tears, crying, whaling I couldn't control myself (tears fill my eyes thinking about it now).  How could this happen, he was only 69, he is my Grandpa, he is the backbone of this family.  I had to appologize to my Grandma becuase my uncle sent me there to be a comfort to her but I was useless.  Apparently he was plowing in the filed and had a heart attack and died.  My uncle saw an ambulance go by and looked out toward the back side of the field and the tractor was still going in circles and the paramedic had to jump on and shut the tractor off. 

Me & my Grandpa (from 12 years ago)

I think my issue with "where is your sting" is that the sting was in my heart.  It stung for days, weeks, months.  I understand the verse meaning Jesus conquored the grave, death has no hold, we have nothing to fear, but the pain, the sting as humans we feel for our loss...

I love The Message Bible

1 Corinthians 15:54-58 (The Message)

 ^51-57But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true:

   Death swallowed by triumphant Life!
   Who got the last word, oh, Death?
   Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now?
It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!
 ⁵⁸With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort.