Chaplain’s Column: The First Empty Tomb
America
begins showing signs of Easter earlier and earlier every year. Plastic eggs for
sale by the millions, chocolate eggs and bunny rabbits in every store, pastel
colored Easter baskets and bundles of plastic green "grass" to fill
them -- the world's signs of Easter can't be missed. But today's signs of
Easter are a far cry from the signs that proved the reality of the very first
Easter morning.
Even more important
for each of us is the fact that Jesus is the only person who has an empty tomb.
Everyone else who's died has returned to the dust, but Christ is alive and
seated at the Father's right hand. Because He overcame death, His followers are
also guaranteed empty tombs someday. When Jesus returns for His church, those
who have died in Him will be resurrected into glorious bodies. And believers
who are alive at that time will instantaneously be changed.
Knowing this, we
naturally wonder, “What kind of body will I have?” The best way to answer that
is to see what Scripture reveals about Christ's body after He rose from the
dead. He didn't come invisibly in the form of a ghost but rather had a literal,
physical body. He talked, walked, and ate with His disciples. Yet although He
was recognizable, He was somehow different, and at times it took His words or
actions to jog their recognition.
Here's one thing I
can tell you about the resurrection: you will look better than you do today!
God is going to give you a strong, glorious, eternal body which is perfectly
fitted for your life in heaven. Believe me, you will not be disappointed,
because God has far more in store for us on the other side than we can ever
imagine. You will be more alive there than you could ever be here.
A more important
issue we must face is how to get ready for that day. This life is just a puff
of wind compared to our eternity. It's my personal opinion that the way we live
here on earth will determine our capacity to enjoy heaven. Jesus replaced the
sting of sin with salvation and the pain of death with paradise. In Him, we
have paradise ahead! The time to begin living for God is now.
Remember to pray
for the Dragoons that all we do will be pleasing to God. We could also pray for
growth in membership.
Please remember all
those on our prayer list.
Yours In Christ
Tom
Snowden, Chaplain
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