1 Corinthians 15:35-49 But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Not all flesh is the same; there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another in glory.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
We were born into corruption, but we are born again for incorruption. When we shed this body of corruption, we will put on incorruption. What does this mean? St. Augustine put it this way: mankind was born in the garden, able to sin and able not to sin. When sin entered the world, man became unable not to sin. However, when man is born again, he becomes able not to sin.
In the resurrection, we will not sin. Think about that. Our call today is to give a taste of heaven by living righteously. Yes, we will fall at times, but we continue to get up (Proverbs 24:16). Meditate on this for a moment: there will be a day when there will be no more sin or death. Hallelujah!
I was once told that you don’t have to wait until you die to experience heaven. After you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can immediately experience heaven. So our life should be lived out as such – not as if we are living in hell, but as we are walking in heaven.
Lord prepare me to be a testimony
Sweet and simple, tried true
With thanksgiving, I’ll be living
Testimony for You.
“For the righteous fall seven times but rise again. “ I fall on a regular basis, but God continues to lift me back on to my feet. He convicts me and corrects me. What a great Father! Like Paul said, I was truly born into corruption, but God has sown into me His spirit.
I love what Jason said. This is a powerful mentality to adopt. To walk as if we are already in Heaven. Powerful!