Daily Encouragement: Day 242

From Handbook to Wisdom, Day 242

LIVING IN THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION

The heavens will vanish like smoke;
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and its inhabitants will die in the same way.
But Your salvation will last forever,
and Your righteousness will never fail.
(Isaiah 51:6)

In the resurrection of the dead,
the body that is sown is perishable,
but it is raised imperishable;
it is sown in dishonor,
but it is raised in glory;
it is sown in weakness,
but it is raised in power;
it is sown a natural body,
but it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body,
there is also a spiritual body.
(1 Corinthians 15:42–44)

Many years ago, an old farmer brought his family to the big city for the very first time. They had never seen buildings so tall or sights so impressive. The farmer dropped his wife off at a department store and took his son with him to the bank—the tallest of all the buildings. As they walked into the lobby, they saw something else they had never seen before. Two steel doors opened. A rather large and elderly woman walked in, and the big doors closed behind her. The dial over the door swept to the right and then back to the left. The doors opened and a beautiful young woman came walking out.

The farmer was amazed. He turned to his son and said, “You wait right here. I’m going to get your mother and run her through that thing!”

Our bodies gradually age and die, but our living hope is in the Lord Jesus, who will receive us to Himself and “transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Philippians 3:21).