Daily Devotional from Pastor Mary 5-20-21

1 Corinthians 15:42-49

42 And that’s how it will be with the resurrection of the dead.
43 The body is “sown” in decay, but will be raised in immortality. It is “sown” in humiliation (agony), but will be raised in glorification.[glory] 44 It is “sown” in weakness but will be raised in power. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 For it is written: The first man, Adam, became a living soul.

The last Adam [Christ] became the life-giving Spirit. 46 However, the spiritual didn’t come first. The natural precedes the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the dust of the earth; the second Man is Yahweh, from the realm of heaven.[only two kinds of races] 48 The first one, made from dust, has a race of people just like him, who are also made from dust. The One sent from heaven has a race of heavenly people who are just like him. 49 Once we carried the likeness of the man of dust, but now let us carry the likeness of the man of heaven.

Tuesday was an emotional day for me as I took my father and mother’s cremated remains to the post office in order to be shipped to Michigan. I have made arrangements to have their internment facilitated according to my father’s wishes to reside with my mother in the family plot. I will travel soon to Michigan with my family to pay our final respects. A variety of emotions filled my soul as I left the post office, but as I thought about things further it brought a tearful release followed by a sense of joy. I believe their spirits are already present with the Lord. Now, their ashes will reside together and await the resurrection of the dead that has been promised by our Lord.

As Christians, we declare the Lordship of Christ for our lives; Lord Yahweh who loves the world and has adopted believers into his eternal family. If I thought my parents were only made of dust, then my emotional state would have been different. However, they were both born of the Spirit—they are of the race of a heavenly people; they carry the likeness of the man of heaven. That makes the story altogether different and changes how I think about life, as well as death.

Our culture wants to focus on CRT (Critical Race Theory) which is not biblical and will never be revealed as Truth. Believers have become One race in Christ; we are ruled by the Spirit. In fact CRT, is anti-Christ. My friends, Christ has overcome Adam’s race; in Christ we are all invited to become a new creation equal and eternal who contain the indwelling Holy Spirit. According to Scripture, there are two races: 1) children of Adam and, 2) children of Christ. So, I am praying for the teaching of CRT (Critical Race Theory) to be stripped of lying power and CRT (Christ Rules Truth) to be proclaimed.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for making a way for human beings to become one race in your eternal care. Thank you for welcoming the spirits of my parents home and for the resurrection of their bodies to one day experience your glory, as well. Because of you, it is well with my soul. In Jesus’ name. Amen.