I love the way kids can imagine things. Just yesterday, our kids were playing with one of their cousins, and their play turned to the imaginative type. For children, this happens far more often than it does in most adults, at least that’s what we’d like people to think. But the object of their imaginations was the ability to teleport to a different location. All they had to do in order to accomplish this long-sought after feat was to simply change their clothes. What has stumped astrophysicists for years had been solved by these kids: change your clothes, and you can change your location. And so they would act out these various locations- Haiti, Virginia Beach, Japan, the Carolinas- all wildly adventurous and each having its own subplot. And this got me thinking about a specific time in the not-so-distant future when each of us will have the opportunity to be in a different location, but not before we must have a “change of clothing.”
“I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54
On that great and glorious day when Jesus Christ returns, we will “put on” that which we do not currently have. For what was secured for those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is the hope of everlasting life. We do not currently possess it, but when we are clothed in that way, and made like Him, we will be the recipients of that great inheritance: eternal life with the Lord, and residency with Him.
The kids weren’t so far off after all, were they? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for that clothing change!
-Pastor Josh
Sanctuaries offer our souls the opportunity to come out of chaos and into order, to get beyond earshot of the din of the marketplace so that we might better hear the voice of God, and to simply be still. Our church family has worked to establish and maintain sanctuaries in our hearts, our homes, and in our city. We’re pleased to now have this sanctuary here on the internet as well. As the vaulted ceiling in a cathedral draws the eye upward to God, we hope your time spent in our home on the web will do the same. God bless you! –Pastor John
