Years ago I got to witness an interaction between my son Eric and his great-uncle, that neither of us will ever forget. Eric, along with his twin brother, had spent their early childhood years praying that Uncle Carl would accept Jesus as his Savior. With boldness, they took advantage of every opportunity to tell him how much he needed Jesus. And with sadness, they listened to him time and time again say, “that’s nice” and go on with his day. As Uncle Carl reached his mid-90’s, the twins started to lose hope and became resigned to the idea that their beloved uncle may not spend eternity with Jesus.
As Uncle Carl entered his last days on earth, something suddenly changed. It was as if decades worth of truth had all of a sudden permeated his soul. He smiled, he looked youthful, and he talked about going to live with God in heaven.
During our last visit with him, the twins stood on either side of his bed and started asking him if he was excited to see Jesus. Uncle Carl grinned and said, “yes, I suppose it will be wonderful”.
Then Eric asked the ultimate question, “Can you imagine living without any pain at all?” Uncle Carl seemed a bit baffled and responded by saying that less pain sure would be nice. That was the open door that Eric was looking for. With all sorts of excitement he launched into a discourse on how when Uncle Carl left this earth and went to heaven, his heavenly body would never die, it would never grow old, it would never break down or get sick, and it would live forever free of pain. The perishable would become imperishable.
With that, Uncle Carl smiled a huge partially toothless grin and this time with fervor and faith exuberantly said, “well that sounds really nice!”
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul outlines what will happen to our earthly bodies when they meet glory – they will become glorious! We will have perfect, flawless, pain-free, glorious, imperishable bodies! In verses 51-52 he says, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, For the perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”
This is our hope! The dead will be resurrected. The broken will be made whole. The captives will be set free. As the perishable becomes imperishable, we will become like our Savior for we will see him as he is! Oh, what a glorious day!
Lynette Fuson
Care & Counseling Director