What do you do with people who are not afraid to die? That was the dilemma facing the ones who tried to persecute the early Christians, and those who still attempt in vain to intimidate Christians today. Those early Christians had spent time with the resurrected Lord. They knew He had died but was raised to life again. A threat to kill them didn’t scare them. They were confident Jesus would either protect them from death or give them life after death. Either option was fine. The authorities were bewildered and asked, “‘What are we going to do with these men?’ … They could not decide how to punish them” (Acts 4:16, 21).

The resurrection of Jesus really happened. The early Christians were convinced of it, and it caused them to have what could be described as a “so what” attitude. The trials of life didn’t concern them as much as they had before. When they got arrested, so what. They knew from experience if the Lord wanted them out of jail He’d send an angel to escort them out. It didn’t matter much to them if they lost wealth or property. They knew the real value in life was the good news of Jesus. “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).

Because of the resurrection of Jesus we can have that same kind of attitude. We may not get noticed by others or be their first choice. So what. We are chosen by God to belong to Him. So what if we’re not liked by the world. We’re so loved by Christ that He gave His life on the cross for our sins. Maybe you don’t own much of anything and money always seems tight. So what. Think of what we have when our faith is in Christ. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Ephesians 1:7-8).

Jesus said God’s kingdom “is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field” (Matthew 13:44). The man was glad to give up everything he had in order to get the treasure. Jesus died on the cross and rose again so that we can have the treasure of the kingdom. So what if it costs everything to get it.  It is most definitely worth it.

The other day I was thinking about what to do regarding some difficulty and then my thoughts moved on to thinking about Easter coming up ahead. Thinking about Easter reminded me: Jesus rose from the dead. The challenge didn’t seem to be such a big deal any more. Thinking about it in light of the resurrection caused me to say, “So what?” What is truly a big deal is Jesus died on the cross and is now alive forever. If the Lord can defeat death He can certainly overcome the challenges we face. The problems that come our way seem small compared to the great and wonderful truth that Jesus lives.