Thursday, May 07, 2009

5-7 No Comparison to the Resurrection

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What an award ceremony it was! It was our first Annual Awana Awards, and everyone was cheering wildly! We had a houseful of kids and their parents. We had so many that excelled. It is astonishing how much scripture was memorized and how much the kids absorbed. One of them was Dylan. Dylan came to us at the beginning of the year from my neighborhood. He was in trouble almost every night. We talked with him, worked with him, and had to take a few disciplinary measures. But slowly he has been transformed. I can’t remember the last time he’s been in trouble. Oh, he’s a live wire! And yes he does get everyone going, but God’s Word and a little bit of love has melted the anger from his heart. What a great “award.”

Today's Scripture reading is 1 Samuel 17; Romans 13
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.podbean.com - Archives can be found at http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com

Today’s thought comes from 1 Corinthians 15: 35 But someone will say, "How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?" 36 Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies… 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. I’ve heard that. Don’t know if it’s true, but we are in a relentless pursuit of bigger and better. That’s what inventions are all about… “new” “improved” “multifunctional!” The PC is getting better… or is it? Not according to the Mac. Cars are getting better… or are they just getting more and more expensive. Science is trying hard to improve the body. We have cutting edge research that experiments with Cancer, Disease Control, DNA, Stem Cells and even Cloning. But as I look at the persistently stubborn poison oak on my arm, and think about the simple things we cannot cure like the swine flu or the common cold, I realize we have got a long way to go! Compare that to what God can do! Today’s body is subject to corruption and decay, no doubt about it. The resurrection body will not have a single ailing cell. We will be purely immortal! Today’s body is less than perfect. There are very few of us proud to show off our perfectly toned, well chiseled athletic bodies. And it gets worse as I get older. The resurrection body will be glorious, excellent and in perfect condition. I’ll really be something to look at one day! Today’s body is weak, ergo it can be taken down by a simple bacteria or virus too small for anything other than the electron microscope to see. It will be raised in power. No scheme of man nor happenstance will be able to bring me down then! I will be immune. Today’s body is carbon based, oxygen dependent and earthly. Our focus is to keep these fleshly engines running and happy as long as possible. To do that we have got to focus on work, health, and me. The resurrection body will be independent and sufficient. We won’t have to work our fingers to the bone to feed the monster. Instead we will be able to focus on more important things like God! We will be spiritual. Our occupation will be enjoying more of the divine than is humanly possible to date, because you will be a perfect, powerful, spiritual, resurrected, new you!

Dear Lord Jesus! Thank you for the promise of the resurrection. I do not fear this life because I know it is only a shadow of things to come. I do not fear sickness, sorrow or death because one day all wrongs will be made right. I wait for that day in great anticipation to overwhelm of all the troubles of this life.

Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

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