I AIN'T GOT NO BODY

There once was an old song called, "I Ain't Got Nobody."

However, whenever I hear that title, all I can think of is a scene from the movie "Young Frankenstein."  Igor, (actor Marty Feldman), sings the first few bars of the song in a scene where only his character's head appears in a line of skulls, thus making it appear as if he had no body.

A dumb pun, but it still makes me chuckle.  Puns do that to me.  I have a very punny sense of humor…(sorry).

All kidding aside, though, I have been thinking and pondering on some deeper thoughts as of late.

My mom, "The Hub," and I recently visited my dad's gravesite.  The cemetery finally finished and placed his headstone.  I have to say, it's really beautiful.  Simple and elegant, with a lovely teal-blue background to honor his love of the sea.

And yet, it's also a bit creepy.  I am still having trouble comprehending that he is gone.  Death, on this side of eternity, is so FINAL.

And it is very difficult to grasp the truth that the *real person* is with Jesus, even as their body lies buried six feet under the ground.

I was having a conversation with Mom the other night about Dad.  I told her how wonderful I thought it was that Dad was happy now.  How he doesn't have to feel pain anymore.  That his mind is intact again.  How one day he will have a brand-new body that will never, ever get sick or hurt or tired or die.

She smiled.

I did, too.

For this is a truth, a hopeful and joyful Truth, for all of us.

And then I said this, "You know, Mom, I think it's incredibly gracious that God gives us a body again someday.  I think He understands how we might want one."

It got me pondering.

Did God understand that it might feel creepy and unsettling to think of spending eternity as a disembodied spirit?  Maybe…

Yes, I do think it's incredibly kind of the Lord to grant us these future resurrected bodies.  For I believe He just might understand how attached we get to our physical *tents.*

How our spirits are used to hands and feet and faces.

And in His wisdom and love, He will once again give us a body – new and incorruptible – for us to live in for eternity.

However, is comfort the only reason He will do this?

I think not.

For, in His perfect work of creation, we were not created as spirits only. We were created as spirit and soul encased in a body.  God fashioned us out of the dust.  He molded us with hands and feet and faces.

He "knit us together in our mother's womb" – intentionally giving us a corporeal home in which to live.

And then, of course, He also chose to enter the same *housing development*!!

God Himself, Jesus, incarnated the actual material of atoms, entered into the physical realm of organs and muscles and veins.  He chose to be confined, and yet also defined, by the parameters of a body.

Jesus had hands and feet and a face.


So, God has a purpose and a plan for bodies.  Now, and in eternity.

What might that be?

Well, we can only speculate on that – but I think it's pretty awesome and exciting speculation!!

Perhaps we'll use our new bodies to explore the vast reaches of God's perfectly re-made heavens and earth.

Maybe we'll use our new bodies to give glory to God.  Maybe we'll sing and dance and play music and write and jump and paint and climb and run…

Maybe the angels will think we're crazy!!  ☺

But here's what I think is the best…

I don't know about you, but the mere thought of being able to SEE Jesus face-to-face (literally!!) and HUG Him – well, it gives me goosebumps.

Maybe I'll have heavenly goosebumps on resurrected skin at that moment?!  And real tears of joy?!  And a smile on a new face?!

And oh, only real and physical hands will be able to touch those blessed and beloved scars.

Sigh.


Yes, we will have bodies.

What will they look like?  What age will they be?  Will we eat or sleep?

I used to spend many hours wondering about these things.  Sometimes feeling stymied that I couldn't come up with answers, or frustrated because God didn't reveal the answers.

But now, though I'm still curious, my feeling is more excited anticipation.

I don't know what our resurrected bodies will be like, but I know that I know that I know that we'll have them.

For we have been promised, and God never reneges on a deal!!

Thank you, Lord.

Hands connect hearts,
And we will live forever...
Eternally held
in the hands of our God,
Forever connected
to His heart.

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16, ESV)

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship." (Romans 12:1, NIV)

"For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands." 
(2 Corinthians 5:1, NLT)

"'In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.'" (John 14:2, NASB)

"We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing.  For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.  While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us.  Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.  God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit." (2 Corinthians 5:2-5, NLT)

"Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life." (1 Corinthians 15:22, NLT)


"But someone may ask, 'How will the dead be raised?  What kind of bodies will they have?'  What a foolish question!  When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't grow into a plant unless it dies first.  And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.  Then God gives it the new body he wants it to have...
There are also bodies in the heavens and bodies on the earth.  The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the glory of the earthly bodies...
It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead.  Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.  Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory.  They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.  They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies.  For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies...
Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.  What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.  These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever...
For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.  And we who are living will also be transformed.  For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.
Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die,[j] this Scripture will be fulfilled:

'Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?'"

(From 1 Corinthians 15, NLT)


"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.  We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." (1 John 3:2, NASB)

"For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." 
(1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV)

"...those who die in the LORD will live; their bodies will rise again!  Those who sleep in the earth will rise up and sing for joy!" (Isaiah 26:19, NLT)

"No longer will there be a curse upon anything.  For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.  And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads." 
(Revelation 22:3-4, NLT)


"He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, 

'Yes, I am coming soon!'

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20, NLT)



Why does it matter to you that we will have resurrected bodies?



Linked today with:

INSPIRE ME MONDAY, SHARING HIS BEAUTY, UNFORCED RHYTHMS, MONDAY'S MUSINGS, MONDAYS AT SOUL SURVIVAL, TELL ME A TRUE STORY, SOLI DEO GLORIA, TITUS 2 TUESDAYS, TESTIMONY TUESDAY, WHIMSICAL WEDNESDAYS, WINSOME WEDNESDAY, A LITTLE R & R WEDNESDAYS, WHOLEHEARTED WEDNESDAYS, WORD FILLED WEDNESDAY, THREE WORD WEDNESDAY, COFFEE FOR YOUR HEART, TELL HIS STORY, CAPTURE YOUR JOURNEY, WOMEN HELPING WOMEN, THOUGHT-PROVOKING THURSDAY, THRIVING THURSDAY, EVERYDAY JESUS, GRACE AT HOME, HEARTS FOR HOME, FRIENDSHIP FRIDAY, LIGHT FRIDAY HIT LIST, FAITH BARISTA, FELLOWSHIP FRIDAYS, ESSENTIAL FRIDAYS, FAITH FILLED FRIDAY, SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS, COUNTING MY BLESSINGS, MAKE MY SATURDAY SWEET, THE FRIDAY FIVE, STILL SATURDAY, SATURDAY SOIREE, WEEKEND BREW, RECOMMENDATION SATURDAY, GIVE ME GRACE, SUNDAY STILLNESS



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