Our Splendor

DEVOTION

1 CORINTHIANS

 OUR SPLENDOR

1 Cor 15:35-41

35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

NIV

We are going to get the answer to this question in the next phrase that is spoken to us, but first let us just ponder on what is here. It does seem that we do ask questions about how heaven will be and what will we look like. We hear questions about how old will we appear, will we recognize each other and how do we get around, walk or sort of float. What we can take away from these words is the simply fact God determines what kind of body we have, both here and in heaven. Who of us determined what we would look like? It is true a few of us do some pretty nasty things to try to change the way we look, but the fact remains we still look like human beings and not like gorillas or some other species. And as much as we all look a little different from each other we all look pretty much the same, for we were created in God’s image. God determined how we would look while we live here, and so he will also determine how we will look when we live there. Sure is it sort of fun to fantasize about what it will be like, but we should never presume to know exactly what we will appear like. As we will see there is a description and it is pretty clear, but we should also see from what is said here that the only way to grow into our heavenly bodies is by being planted as this one and as with seed, we must die in order to become the heavenly body God has determined us to be. If we think about it, we are but a seed, this life is only in preparation for the one we will grow into. So why do we spend so much of our efforts on this one, trying to make the most of it, trying to be the smartest, the most beautiful, the most liked, the wealthiest, the most influential and whatever else most there is. Shouldn’t we be spending our efforts being the best seed we can be? Shouldn’t we be making sure the Word was planted in our rich and fertile soil so it grows within us making us the best seed possible? But still we must know that God created us as we are and as we will be. What kind of splendor we are and will be.