In the resurrection we will have spiritual bodies. Our natural bodies came from Adam, our spiritual bodies come from Christ. Christ is the second Adam, offering us new bodies not subject to destruction. As Paul says: "as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man [Adam], so we shall bear the likeness of the heavenly one [Christ]" (I Corinthians 15:49).
Our spiritual bodies are Christ-like bodies. Jesus came to share with us the life in our mortal bodies so that we would also be able to share in his spiritual body. "Mere human nature," Paul says, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (I Corinthians 15:50). Jesus came to dress our perishable nature with imperishability and our mortal nature with immortality (see I Corinthians 15:53). Thus it is in the body that our spiritual life finds its fullest manifestation.
For further reflection...
"For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive." - I Corinthians 15: 21-22 (NIV)
Your response...
What does this mean for you? Comment on this Daily Meditation.
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Our short lives on earth are sowing time. If there were no resurrection of the dead, everything we live on earth would come to nothing. How can we believe in a God who loves us unconditionally if all the joys and pains of our lives are in vain, vanishing in the earth with our mortal flesh and bones? Because God loves us unconditionally, from eternity to eternity, God cannot allow our bodies - the same as that in which Jesus, his Son and our savior, appeared to us - to be lost in final destruction.
No, life on earth is the time when the seeds of the risen body are planted. Paul says: "What is sown is perishable, but what is raised is imperishable; what is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; what is sown is weak, but what is raised is powerful; what is sown is a natural body, and what is raised is a spiritual body" (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). This wonderful knowledge that nothing we live in our bodies is lived in vain holds a call for us to live every moment as a seed of eternity.
The wonderful knowledge, that nothing we live in our body is lived in vain, holds a call for us to live every moment as a seed of eternity.
For further reflection...
"Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together." - John 4: 36 (NIV)
Your response...
How can you live this out today? Comment on this Daily Meditation.
Continue the Inspiration
Purchase your copy of Henri Nouwen's book "Bread for the Journey".
Throughout Advent, join us for a discussion of the new book, "Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life".
This discussion is moderated by Brynn Lawrence and Ray Glennon.
Consider our monthly giving program to sustain the ability to extend Henri's legacy and make his work available to those who seek spiritual formation and nourishment. Click here to sign up today.
