April 5

Raised in Glory

        But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.  But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 15:35-44

           

            What will the Resurrection be like?  What will Heaven be like?  No more suffering and pain sounds great…but what will we actually be doing for eternity?  New bodies sound great…but what will they be like?  How old will they be?  I have questions.

            See, I like to plan my travels ahead of time, thinking through every contingency, so that I am not surprised when I get there.  It seems like there will be surprises in Eternity because Scripture does not have a whole lot to say…at least not to the level of detail that I would like to have.  What we know is that it will be Good.  Capitalized “G” good.  The kind of Good that we can only dream about here on Earth.  The Good that comes from being in perfect relationship with our Heavenly Father and all those around us.  The Good that comes from not being weighed down with sin and trauma and broken bodies.  The Good that we were created for and that our hearts naturally long for.

            There will also be new bodies, made of the same stuff but not the same.  Paul uses the metaphor of a seed.  When the seed of an apple goes into the ground, it does not become another apple seed.  It does not even become an apple.   It grows into a tree, thousands of times larger and more complex than the seed that was buried.  The same is true for all seeds whether they be flowers, vegetables or fruits, they all begin as a small, hard, lifeless speck.  But after they are buried and given the proper resources, they are transformed into living, complex, diverse plants that provide food and beauty and shelter.

            What if the bodies that we currently reside in are just seeds in comparison to what we will be after our death?  What if the extreme limits of our physical and mental and spiritual abilities here in this life are only a small seed in comparison to the tree that we will become?  What if our kids, whose bodies have betrayed them in this life, have unbelievable wonder and adventure waiting for them on the other side?  They have been sown in dishonor; they will be raised in glory.  They have been sown in weakness; they will be raised in power.

            Let it be so.

A moment to reflect:

Allow your heart a few minutes to hope and be excited for eternity.



Refrigerator Artwork of the Day

Sabrina, age 20