What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first.
1 Corinthians 15:36
Do you ever feel like your body lets you down? James Dobson summed up the situation both humorously and accurately when he said, “Life itself, is a fatal disease – none of us is going to get out of it alive! Around the time your skin clears up, then your mind starts to go!”
No wonder programs like Extreme Makeover are so popular for it seems none of us are happy with our bodies or how we look. If you do not believe me, then how do you explain a 20 year old who receives Botox injections or the endless procession of ads for weight loss programs, promising us quick fixes to our “problem”?
Humanity’s fixation with the body is not new. Some Greek philosophers taught that the body was evil, but the “soul/spirit” was good and therefore a person’s focus should be upon developing the latter. Over time, this thinking influenced some teachers to promote the idea of either extreme denial or over-indulgence of the body because ultimately it did not matter in the grand scheme of things. What was important was the state of your soul, the “higher” part of you.
It is not difficult to see how this thinking has influenced the Corinthians’ idea about the dead not being raised. If the body is truly evil, then why would God bother raising it?
Paul refutes such thinking by arguing convincingly that the redemption of the body is essential to God’s plan of salvation and to demonstrate this, He raised Jesus from the dead! The strange thing is, it seems the Corinthians had accepted the fact of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead but had not embraced belief in the resurrection of Christians.
As we have seen previously, Paul makes it clear that you cannot have one without the other. If Jesus is raised, then we will be raised – it is as simple as that!
Which brings me back to my original point – our bodies let us down. They wear out, they are “death – doomed” and will return to dust.
But the promise of God – the great hope we have of transformation – is that one day He will raise our bodies up, free from the effects of corruption, sin, and disease, never to die again.
It will be the greatest makeover the world has ever seen!
Q. What do you look forward to most when you contemplate the promise of a resurrected body?
Do you ever feel like your body lets you down? James Dobson summed up the situation both humorously and accurately when he said, “Life itself, is a fatal disease – none of us is going to get out of it alive! Around the time your skin clears up, then your mind starts to go!”
No wonder programs like Extreme Makeover are so popular for it seems none of us are happy with our bodies or how we look. If you do not believe me, then how do you explain a 20 year old who receives Botox injections or the endless procession of ads for weight loss programs, promising us quick fixes to our “problem”?
Humanity’s fixation with the body is not new. Some Greek philosophers taught that the body was evil, but the “soul/spirit” was good and therefore a person’s focus should be upon developing the latter. Over time, this thinking influenced some teachers to promote the idea of either extreme denial or over-indulgence of the body because ultimately it did not matter in the grand scheme of things. What was important was the state of your soul, the “higher” part of you.
It is not difficult to see how this thinking has influenced the Corinthians’ idea about the dead not being raised. If the body is truly evil, then why would God bother raising it?
Paul refutes such thinking by arguing convincingly that the redemption of the body is essential to God’s plan of salvation and to demonstrate this, He raised Jesus from the dead! The strange thing is, it seems the Corinthians had accepted the fact of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead but had not embraced belief in the resurrection of Christians.
As we have seen previously, Paul makes it clear that you cannot have one without the other. If Jesus is raised, then we will be raised – it is as simple as that!
Which brings me back to my original point – our bodies let us down. They wear out, they are “death – doomed” and will return to dust.
But the promise of God – the great hope we have of transformation – is that one day He will raise our bodies up, free from the effects of corruption, sin, and disease, never to die again.
It will be the greatest makeover the world has ever seen!
Q. What do you look forward to most when you contemplate the promise of a resurrected body?