I’m looking forward to the resurrection, aren’t you? There’s a sense in which we’ve already been raised, of course. When we were brought up out of the baptismal waters, God raised us from our spiritual graves.
We were dead, and now we’re alive. We were lost, and now we’re found. But the resurrection isn’t over yet.
Sometimes I get sore muscles, and my head hurts (“in this tent we groan,” 2 Cor 5:2). I struggle with sin way more than I should. I look around and see a messed-up world.
And it all reminds me that there’s a bigger, better resurrection coming. We’ve been resurrected, but we can’t wait to be resurrected—completely, finally, and irrevocably. I think that’s what Paul’s talking about here: “that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:11).
He’d been saved, of course, but he knew all too well that God was still working on him. He had a clear future focus—he was excited about what God had done for him, and about what the Lord was still doing in him, but he couldn’t wait for what lay ahead.
Maybe you need that reminder today. You feel like you’re being swallowed up by life’s pressures, demands, and stress.
Pause a few minutes and look ahead. You’ll have to get back to the grind tomorrow, perhaps, but for now think about that coming and wonderful resurrection from the dead.
Jesus promised that he’s coming back to this world to take you where he wants you and where you want to be. He’s already saved you from all your sins, and he’s given you his Spirit as a down payment. But as with all down payments, the Spirit is just a small taste of what’s coming.
He’ll change your body into an incorruptible one . . . a body that doesn’t hurt, moan, groan, or get old. He’ll redeem this world from all of its corruption and decay and recreate a new dwelling place for his people.
And he’ll take away every memory of sin. We will, by his grace, “attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Can’t wait. —Chuck
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