Transformed

“Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled: “Death is swallowed up in victory.O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:54-57

Many of us have suffered the loss of those we love. We have felt the sting of death. But in his letter to the Philippians, Paul writes, “For to me, living means living for Christ and dying is even better” (Philippians 1:21). It’s hard to think of dying as something better than living when there is so much sorrow and pain in the loss of those we love. But for those who are in Christ, death has no victory. Death is not the end of life, but the beginning of life eternal.

“Now we see things imperfectly," Paul says, “like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that we know now is partial and incomplete, but then we will know everything completely, just as God now knows us completely.” (See 1 Corinthians 13:12.)

These can be difficult concepts to wrap our finite human minds around, but what comfort and hope they bring when we grapple with the thought of death. Our Lord Jesus Christ has given us victory over sin and death. Because of his sacrifice, the grave no longer has a hold on us. Death is swallowed up in victory. And someday these dying bodies will be transformed into bodies that will never die.