Day 29

Death is not the end, but entrance into a glorious never-ending future.

‘When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”’ (1 CORINTHIANS 15:54)

It’s impossible to know the transformation that occurs after we die. There are tantalising hints of what we will be like, but not in terms we can really understand.

What actually happens to us on resurrection day is greater than anything we can anticipate. We will get a new body more beautiful than the transformation of the caterpillar into a butterfly. Paul writes about the resurrection of the dead saying, ‘The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised 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’ (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

Our life is not wrapped up in our 70 years. Meaningful as our years on earth are, they are just the briefest of introductions to an eternity which no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has conceived ‘the things God has prepared for those who love him’ (1 Corinthians 2:9). Let’s not be so foolish as to fear death!

Lord, I anticipate death with confidence that to be absent from the body is to be present with you.