Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, June 1, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Change is a constant. No matter how some of us try to keep things the same, to stay where and how we’re comfortable, the fact is that the world changes around us and we change in response to the world. Fighting change is a recipe for disappointment and depression. Embracing change, on the other hand, can bring great joy even in the face of uncertainty. This promise from 1 John is a reminder of this. At some point in our eternal lives, we will be fundamentally changed in some way. This body we’ve lived in will undergo something like the metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Sometimes I feel like this is a rejection of our embodiedness—that we have to somehow despise our bodies made of earth (adamah) and long to be different. Yet I know that’s not the case. God created us in God’s image—beautiful and whole and physical beings—and we need to cherish our physicality as much as our spirituality. They are inextricably linked. Maybe this physical form will pass away, but eternal life in God will come with its own physicality. And just as Jesus was embodied, and will return to us changed, so we will change to be like him. Of course thinking about this is an exercise in imagination only. We have nothing to base it on. So dream away, and be creative in your thought as God is creative. But know that our bodies here on earth are precious and beautiful to God, and so should be to us.
What do I imagine my future body to be like? Why do I think so?
