Pray:

Jesus, thank You that You have promised that when You appear, we will be like You. What a wonder!

Read:

1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-58

Reflect:

What will be true of our new bodies?

Throughout my mother's life, people commented on her cheerful, welcoming face. At her funeral we were reminded that her face, in her new resurrection body, would be looking into the face of Christ.

Over the ages, the question has been asked, "How are the dead raised? What will their body be like?" The Corinthians were asking this same question. Paul replies that a seed is planted and dies, giving way to something far more substantial. So the human body dies but gives way to a new, eternally resilient body (42-44), a body like the one that Christ now has, bearing the image of the heavenly man, and not like the first Adam's body (45).

Only a dramatic God-given act of transformation can bring a resurrection body into being--an act of inconceivable power that turns the unfathomable into reality. This is a work of the Spirit who "gives life to our mortal bodies" (Rom. 8:11). When Christ comes again, this will happen both for those who have already died and those still living. Hopelessness, uncertainty and fear will be cast into shadow by the confident glory Paul describes at the end of the chapter.

Apply:

Stand firm with Paul, praying that you will experience Christ's resurrection power, even today.

Pray:

Thank You, Lord, that I am Your beloved. You are the one I love.