5/22 Heavenly Minded from Grace Polaris on Vimeo.
I had the chance to speak yesterday with Pastor Jim about his Sunday sermon on Philippians 3:17–4:9 (video above). He elaborated on a number of points related to the sermon, but one thing he said that particularly resonated with me has to do with torn ACLs, balding, and abdominal fat.
OK, I don’t think he mentioned any of these three things specifically. He called my attention, though, to the marvelous truth that Christians will someday receive “glorious” bodies, which contrast with the “humble” bodies we now have (Philippians 3:21 HCSB). Pastor Jim thinks that’s something worth getting excited about. I agree.
I’m 34 years old, and while most wouldn’t consider me an old man, I realize that my body is “humble” and getting “humbler” all the time. I have a bad hip. I’m losing my hair. I think I’m slower than I was in high school, and that’s saying something since I may have been the slowest quarterback ever to play high school football.
As Jim pointed out, the promise of a glorious body, which will not be subject to decay (1 Corinthians 15:42–44), frees us from bemoaning our physical flaws. Yes, our bodies are decaying, but we can and should be good stewards of them (see our prior post on this topic), and when our bodies don’t respond as they used to, we look forward to the day when God will reverse the downward slide.
If I look back at this post in ten years, I’m sure I’ll be mindful of ten more years of decay. I’ll also recognize, though, that I’m ten years closer to a majestic body that blows this one out of the water.
— Beau Stanley
