Read: Romans 8:18-25
The redemption of our bodies. (v. 23)
The bodily resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. Everything we believe and hope for depends on the fact that Jesus’s physical body rose from the grave. Paul puts it plainly: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor. 15:17-19). Christ’s resurrection is the fulcrum of our faith and the promise that we too will experience resurrection.
The elderly man who shuffles his feet from the living room chair to the dining room table, step by painful step, knows deeply what Paul promises so beautifully. “We wait for the redemption of our bodies.” The young child who is tongue-tied because of some twist in the synapses of her brain, who has yet to speak a sentence clearly, knows well what Paul proclaimed. “We wait for the redemption of our bodies.” The person waiting in the specialist’s waiting room, fearful of the diagnosis about to be offered, tired of treatments and medications, knows what Paul has in mind. “We wait for the redemption of our bodies.”
Christ’s death and resurrection set us free from sin and assure that one day our bodies will be redeemed. Until that day we wait.
As you pray, ask God for patience as you wait for the redemption of your body.
About the Author
Jonathon Brown is the lead pastor of Pillar Church in Holland, MI. Jon and his beloved wife, Kristyn, are the proud parents of four daughters.
