Imperishable

One thing you learn quickly in the military is the need for good supply lines. During field operations nothing lasts. Ammo and fuel get used up, food rots, boots wear out, uniforms tear, tanks throw their tracks. A lot of research goes into making things last longer because it's so hard to keep enough stuff coming. That's where things like MREs and stainless steel come from.

That's a reflection of the truth of our earthly lives: everything decays. Everything dies. All of this world is on a trajectory that ends in death.

Because of that, I don't think we really get the fill import of the promise Paul writes about in 1 Cor 15:50-58. It's a familiar passage, "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." (vv51-52). Can you imagine what it really will be like, to exist as beings who don't get old or wear out? To start each day feeling strong and able, to do the things God sets us to without wearing out, to fulfill our purpose with no limitation from our physical selves - it's more really than I can get my head around.

It will happen, Paul says, in a flash, at the last trumpet. What a day that will be! That's the victory over death, and the decay we see around us and the aging we feel in our own bodies are just the slow work of that great enemy.

"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law," Paul says. "But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

Ever wonder if it's worth it, this struggle to live obediently? Just think of the imperishable, never-aging, immortal you that will be. Yeah, more than worth it.