Focus

Let yourself become open to God and the knowledge that comes from the Word. Ask God for a peace at this time.

Read

1 Corinthians 15:35-49 (NRSV)

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. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Reflect

Paul anticipated a question about the resurrection of believers: “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’” They were not really concerned with doctrine or truth, but with arguing. He went on to explain what all his auditors needed to know. He was talking about earthly bodies that will be changed and completely different when we receive our heavenly bodies. Not so different that we are unrecognizable, but different in the way that flesh and spirit are different. “What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.” Just as a seed is different from the plant it becomes, our heavenly bodies will not be like our earthly bodies. No more tears, no more pain, no more doubt. “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). We are God’s children now and what we truly are will be revealed in glory.

Pray

Almighty God, who calls things that are not into being, and brings to nothing things that are, we praise you because of your provision for us through Jesus Christ our Lord. We thank you that you have better plans for us than we can ever imagine and bless you that you are indeed God almighty, indivisible, one true and holy. Amen.

Go with God.