Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today- it is only a short time before eternity starts.
1 Corinthians 15:45-49,53 NLT
[45] The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam-that is, Christ-is a life-giving Spirit. [46] What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. [47] Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. [48] Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. [49] Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man. [53] For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
Observation
How much effort do I invest in trying to get everything out of this life, as if it is the only life I have? How differently would I invest my life if I lived from the shaping story that this is a short time in this body before I receive my new immortal body which I will live in for eternity? It’s hard to imagine the magnificence of my future where I will be “like the heavenly man.”
This flesh body can not inherit the fullness of the Kingdom of God, it can’t receive and engage in all that it is, so God desires that we have an immortal body that can engage in the new heavens and earth. And God desires that this engagement with Him will know no end. God’s story over my life is abundant life now and a new abundant life into eternity. How much confidence, how much strength to stand and overcome, how much generosity, how much sacrifice for others, does this story of eternity enable me to have in this body? When you know your future is amazing and you know it is guaranteed, then fear loses its voice over me, worry can’t find a grip on me, lack has no hold on me. I can endure and thrive by faith in whatever the now throws my way, for I know what tomorrow will bring.
Application
I will live in this physical body with the assurance of my spiritual body to come. Death will have no sting, for it is my transformation pathway from mortal to immortal.
Response
Thank you that you guarantee a future that is beyond my imagination or comprehension. Thank you that the frailty of this body will be swallowed up in the immortality of my spiritual body. Thank you that I can face the brokenness of this world knowing the beauty of the next.
Meditation
Meditation truth – our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
Consider:
Does the truth of immortal life shape the way you live in this shorter physical existence?
JOURNEY DEEPER
