Rising to Dance

Hi there and thank you for joining me for today's Our Daily Bread devotional. I'm Sheridan Voisey and I've titled today's reading Rising to Dance. In a widely shared video, an elegant elderly woman sits in a wheelchair. Once a famed ballet dancer, Marta Gonzalez Saldaña now suffers from Alzheimer's disease. But something magical happens when Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is played to her. As the music builds, her frail hands slowly rise, and as the first trumpets blast, she starts performing from her chair. Though her mind and body are perishing, her talent is still there. Reflecting on that video, my thoughts went to Paul's teaching on resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. Likening our bodies to a seed that is buried before it sprouts into a plant, he says that though our bodies may perish through age or illness, may be a source of dishonour, and may be wracked with weakness, the bodies of believers will be raised imperishable, full of glory and power. Just as there is an organic link between the seed and the plant, we will be us after our resurrection, our personalities and talents intact, but we will flourish like never before. When the haunting melody of Swan Lake began to play, Marta at first looked downcast, perhaps mindful of what she once was and could no longer do.

But then a man reached out and held her hand. And so it will be for us. Trumpets will blast, a hand will reach out, and we will rise to dance like never before.

Today's scripture reading is from 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verses 35 to 44. But someone will ask, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?

How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body as He has determined, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same.

People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another, and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies, and there are earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.

The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another, and the stars another, and the star differs from star and splendor. So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Let's pray. Thank you, Jesus, that with You, nothing that is good in our lives is ever lost. While we may lose our health and our abilities, and age or illness may mean we can't do what we used to do or actually have the capacity to do, one day we will take Your hand and we will rise to dance, all our talents ablaze in Your glory. Thank you for this hope that we have for the future. It's the kind of hope we can't find anywhere else. We praise You for this, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Sheridan Voisey and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.