Friday 16 May 2014

May 16: 1 Corinthians 15:42-49

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:43
It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

Devotion:
After listening to someone talk about living with grief and coming to terms with death, this passage took on a new meaning. Rick Warren and his wife Kay talked about their grief at the leadership conference in London recently and I had to go off and re-read this passage a few times just to see how profound a statement it is. We are nothing really. Chemically and physically we are a bunch of chemicals, water, carbon and we are all glued together in some miraculous way that makes us unique; but what really makes us stand out is our spiritual selves which don’t come from nowhere but from God!

There is no way that we can be what we are without an intelligent creator and no way that we can justify ourselves without looking to that creator, our Awesome God! Our bodies are certainly not perfect because we are born with all sorts of imperfections. I can remember the nurses saying that we had perfect babies when each of them was born; and in our eyes they were perfect too! But as we grow up the faults and mistakes start to show and we fail at many things in life. This is normal! We are not created perfect, even if someone says we are when we are born.

Our bodies are vessels in which we live. They are not going to last forever in the state they are in because they have many imperfections. I know I have my faults, not just age, but issues with the way do things, make decisions and generally live. I know I cannot please all people, sometimes not many at all, but I know that God is my creator and what He has allowed is for me to live this way with all my mistakes because it is what He says is OK. If we were all perfect life would be a bit boring, great, but boring. It is because of our faults that we get to find friends in each other.

It is when we can look past those faults and find deeper friendship that we can grow with God and aim for a fuller spiritual life with Him. God knows we are imperfect and He knows we need help with all sorts of things, but He also showed us that He will make us perfect one day before we get to go to heaven with Him. I look forward to being able to leave my imperfections behind, but I look forward to learning how to live through those imperfections until that day!

Points to Ponder:
How many mistakes do you make?

Do you learn from those mistakes?