Reminder to Be Dramatically Different

Some skeptic is sure to ask, “Show me how resurrection works. Give me a diagram; draw me a picture. What does this ‘resurrection body’ look like?” If you look at this question closely, you realize how absurd it is. There are no diagrams for this kind of thing. We do have a parallel experience in gardening. You plant a “dead” seed; soon there is a flourishing plant. There is no visual likeness between seed and plant. You could never guess what a tomato would look like by looking at a tomato seed. What we plant in the soil and what grows out of it don’t look anything alike. The dead body that we bury in the ground and the resurrection body that comes from it will be dramatically different.

1st Corinthians 15:35-42 The Message

Has life ever made you feel like you'd been knocked down and buried in fertilizer... that keeps getting piled on?!? That's how I was feeling when God reminded me of this Scripture.

What is planted - buried beneath mounds and pounds of fertilizer - and what grows out of it don't look anything alike! Just like you can't tell what a tomato will look like from the seed you plant, there's no telling what we'll look like, either - but the Bible says we shall be like Him!!

Can we give God praise for that and thank Him - even in the fertilizer?!?

Prayer:

Father,
           Thank You for loving us more than enough to give us what we need rather than what we want. Help us to understand and continue to grow in the process. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

To Be Different

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2 NIV

I was watching the latest docu-series on Netflix called The World's Most Extraordinary Homes. The hosts travel the globe to showcase unbelievable homes. Not for their extravagance, but for their unique architectural and breathtaking design. Many are designed to blend in with the least amount of intrusive disruption to the surrounding landscape and ecological system, be it mountain, sea or forest. They truly are some of the most extraordinary - at least in the two episodes I've seen.

I totally agree with preserving our natural resources and environments, but I was struck by the illustration of how people will go to such extraordinary lengths (pun intended) to conform to the pattern of this world. Sometimes, without realizing that the final cost will be much more than they had allowed or anticipated.

And so it is with lives. People want to fit in, to blend, to be recognized for their ability to commingle, many times without realizing that the final cost will be much more than they had anticipated. What price are you willing to pay? Have you considered the cost (Luke 14:28)? Matthew 16:26 NLT reads, And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? 2nd Corinthians 6:17 urges us to come out from among them and be separate...

Prayer:

Father,

        You have called us to be different than the world.  We are called to be in relationship with Christ because He loved us and gave Himself up for us to make us holy, cleansing us by the washing with water through Your Word, to present us to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, to be holy and blameless. Lead us up higher, Father. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen