We Shall Be Changed
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1 Corinthians 15:50-58
50. I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51. Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. 54. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55. "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?" 56. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
We shall be changed. We shall be changed . . . Because of Christ death no longer becomes the final answer. Because of him, we will be changed from the human, fragile, finite beings that we are into the glorious, impervious, shining and eternal creatures that reflect God’s light throughout the heavens and on the earth! Really! We will become like Him! Not Him, but like Him.
We shall be changed. Our foretaste of that afterlife is experienced when we first give our lives to Christ. We become new creatures then. When we live with the certainty of Christ’s promise, and believe in life in heaven – worshiping our Creator in person, this world seems clouded over in a mist. Heaven will be so wonderful, so beautiful, so unspeakably and indescribably incredible, that we are spurred on to work toward achieving heaven. Our faith is the fuel. Heaven is the destination. Everything that happens along the way moves us one step closer to perfection in Christ Jesus.
His resurrection won this wonderful prize for us! His death was the price He paid on our behalf. Knowing this, believing it, we respond out of gratitude and reverence. We turn away from the ways of the world; we seek out the counsel of other Christians. We surround ourselves with godly friends and companions. We long for a world where everyone is “on the same page.” But God promised us, and Christ proved it true, that it will be worth any price we pay to reach our heavenly home.
No matter how difficult life on earth is; no matter how much pain, disappointment, discouragement, rejection, rebuke and ridicule we encounter and are expected to endure, we are already victorious! We accept and rejoice in the refinement God is doing to us. He is preparing us for perfection! And I don’t know about you, but I need a lot more work!
I’ve been home from work for two full weeks! This Monday will be especially challenging as I have been reminded of all the reasons I like being a wife and mother – a real homebody. But I have also gained some new insights about my place in the workplace. Perhaps God needs and wants me to be His voice there. And that makes leaving my house this morning a bit easier to deal with. You see, I’ve been changed. And I long to become the final, perfect finished product God has planned for me. So I labor and strive for that perfection.
While I’ll never achieve perfection in this life, I know it awaits me if I work as hard as I can to come as close as I can to that state.
I hope you spend today demonstrating how you are changed because of Christ. And that you find new ways in this new year to bring others to the truth.
Mary
