Superpower

1 Corinthians 15:51-58

REFLECTION

by Mary Alice McGinnis

Like many young children, my grandson's fascination with Super Heroes began young.

Recently we were sitting around the dinner table, and he asked each of us, in his 10-year old voice, “If you could have any superpower, what would it be?”

Each of us gave our own individual answers. Then, he chimed in, “One of my friends at school said he would want to be immortal!”

(I picture a 10-year-old, playing video games, wanting their character to gain IMMORTALITY!)

The three adults at the table each said, “No, way! I would never want that!” One said, “I would not want to stay young and watch everyone I love around me grow old and die.” Another said, “I think it would be like the zombie apocalypse.” Still another, “I would not want to live forever in a messed up world like ours.”

The familiar promise of John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

It got me to thinking. How is this eternal life different?

After Adam and Eve rebelled against God and gave into the serpent’s temptation in the Garden of Eden, God drove them out of the Garden. He placed angels to guard the entrance of the Garden so they could not eat from the Tree of Life. He did not want them to be destined to live forever in their broken, sinful human bodies and in this broken world.

God had a different plan. Today’s verse tells us, “I want to tell you a mystery.”  A mystery is something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. Yet it goes on: “We will all be changed.” It’s hard for us to grasp, perhaps even impossible, because it is outside of our experience.

Jesus took on the debt of our brokenness, and the brokenness of the entire world. Now we can set our hope on this:

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.”

This promise of transformation gives us hope that surpasses the trials of this world. Instead of living in discouragement or despair, we can hold onto the assurance that through Christ, death has been defeated. Immortality has now been granted to us in a perfected form. It is not the immortality bound by this flawed world. It is a life eternal in communion with God, free from pain, sin, and brokenness. This mystery, though beyond our understanding, fills us with hope and strength when facing life's challenges.

Where are you feeling the "sting of death" in your life right now? Cling to the Resurrected Jesus, who conquered the grave. By His grace, He offers you restoration and immortality beyond your wildest imagination.

PRAYER

Lord, help me to envision the future You have promised through Jesus. You offer an imperishable, joyful, abundant life that will have no end. Death and destruction will not get the last word! I pray for the person whom, right now, is sensing Your invitation to this FREE gift of eternal life in You. Thanks be to God! You give us the victory through our Lord Jesus.