ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
April 23, 2022
I was reading an online forum on how our heavenly bodies will be stitched together. It was rather specific in the what and how. In the comment section, there was furious debate over the technical points, specifically what God will use of our current bodies and what God won’t use. If I were to die tonight, I sort of hope God won’t use my current knees. With that said, I find the whole discussion to be amazingly embarrassing for those who claim to follow Jesus. It is also a very calculated distraction from what Jesus and Paul seemed to think was important. In Galatians 5, Paul talks about living in the Spirit, those who have been set free. This freedom is a sign of new life, and if you are looking for signs of resurrection or heavenly existence, look for the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). The whole heavenly body thing makes for fascinating confabulating, but don’t you think God has things covered whether or not you and I have put together a concise statement on the exact look of our heavenly existence. And let’s be honest, no matter how well researched it might be, it’s probably wrong. But if you know firsthand the Fruit of the Spirit, then you’re probably going to have as good an understanding of heavenly life as anything one might find in an online discussion board… probably better.
As fascinating as some try to make the debate over the finer points of nonsense, help me to not be sucked in. Generous God, continue to invite me into a life that resembles the life of Jesus, and even if my so-called attempt is mediocre, it is probably a better reflection of heaven then the theological one-upmanship found online. Amen.
