Later this year I will turn 30. I am trying to understand that because my mind still feels fresh and young. I feel like a teenager most days mentally, and I hope I never lose that. My body, however, is just beginning to feels some of the signs of age. I have some arthritis in my big toes that occasionally causes pain. My knees and back are prone to twinges now and then from old basketball injuries. I'm not exactly ready for a can and walker yet, but the inexorable march of time is beginning to be felt as I age.
That is why today's second part of 1 Corinthians 15 is so promising. In it, Paul paints a picture of what our glorified bodies will be like once we are with Christ. Physically, we will be totally different because we will exist in a body that is fully in tune with our spiritual selves. Just as our spirits never dies, our new bodies in Christ will never die either. We will be transformed instantly into being that will no longer feel the limitations of our current human flesh.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. – 1 Corinthians 15:44-49
This is part of the natural process that must occur. Our current bodies are flawed. There is no way they can stand up to being in the glorified presence of God. It's like in the movie Dogma. In that film, if a regular human were to hear the direct voice of God, the power of that voice would cause the person's head to explode. As they said, it took them five Adams to figure that one out. While that is humorous fiction, the picture that Paul paints here is very similar. We cannot be in the Presence of God in our current state, so it is only natural that we must be transformed.
1 comment:
Some advice re: arthritis in your big toes: drink black cherry juice (Knudsen's, available at grocery stores or health food stores). A friend told me about this and explained that a build-up of uric acid in one's body usually affects toes and fingers first; black cherry juice breaks it down and rids the body of it.
I tried it on a lark when I saw the product at the store... IT WORKED. The juice doesn't taste the greatest, but the benefit far exceeds the taste. I've been drinking 4-6 ounces daily for 4 months and no arthritis (I am 19 years older than you); I highly recommend that you try it. Word search 'uric acid' and research it first, but also TRY IT. Good luck!
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