A Glorified Body (1 Cor. 15:35-41)

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
(1 Corinthians 15:35-41, NASB)

I may be going way off-track of what Paul might have meant by heavenly and earthly bodies, but these verses remind me that this earthly body I inhabit now is temporary. One day, I’ll have a glorified body in which I’ll spend eternity.

This earthly body is frail. Weak. Flawed. It is in constant pain. It is chronically fatigued. It lacks energy. Yes, God gives it enough strength to do what He calls it to do, but I tire of it. Often.

So many days, I want to shed this earthly skin and take on a new body that is strong and pain-free. Days like today. My joints are stiff, and every step causes my ankles and knees to throb with pain. My muscles spasm. My head aches.

It makes me long all the more for the day when I feel no pain and have energy in abundance to praise and serve God. One day, in the mansion He’s designed just for me, I’ll live—I’ll thrive—in that glorified body. That heavenly body.

And that day can’t come soon enough!