We will be changed ...

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 
1 Corinthians 15:52

What kind of seeds are in this picture?  How would you describe them?  Small?  Earth-tone?  Irregular in shape?  There’s nothing about them that catches the eye; if they weren’t bunched together, we would walk pass them without a notice.  If only we could see their potential, though, what they would become ...

The Apostle Paul said our earthly bodies are like these seeds: though we are wonderfully made, we weaken and die.  Yet that’s not the end of our story; that’s not the final act.

Instead, we live and die boldly: living in the assurance of eternity and dying in the confidence of change.  Though our bodies are “sown” like seeds that fall to the ground, we will yet rise up with spiritual bodies, in power and glory, imperishable.  For we will bear the likeness of Christ, who has already risen from death and been seen by many.

How do we know the glory that awaits?  Simply this: God always does what he says he will do.  To Abraham he promised a blessing and a seed, both fulfilled in person of Jesus Christ.  To Moses he promised to call forth another prophet like him, a promise kept in Christ.  To David, he promised a descendant as king forever, again fulfilled in this Son of God.  And through the Psalms and the prophets God foretold so many things about the Messiah – details about his birth, his life, his death and his resurrection – all of these promises kept also in Jesus the Christ.

And now through Paul, God makes yet one more promise: we will rise.  We know we will be raised to life with new, glorious bodies, because the God who speaks hope through his servants – from Abraham to Paul – is both able to keep his promises and faithful to keep his promises.

The seeds in the picture above?  They will rise up to be roses.  Not small, but bountiful.  Not earth-tone, but deep red petals on bright green stems.  Individually and beautifully sculpted, each one.  They will be changed.

So will we.  We have his Word.

Where, O death, is your victory?
   Where, O death, is your sting?  1 Corinthians 15:55

[Click here to see the daily reading in 1 Corinthians 15:42-58.]