Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here. Genesis 50:24-25
We buried Mama yesterday. She traveled from The Woodlands near Houston, Texas to Tulsa, Oklahoma and was buried with Daddy. Most of the family traveled from Texas. I traveled from California.
I considered not going. I rationalized that she wasn’t there, just her body.
… absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8
I prayed for wisdom. Joseph came to mind, and I read Genesis 50.
Mary’s anointing the feet of Jesus with the costly perfume of nard and Jesus’ response came to mind.
Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. John 12:7
The body is important to God. In the story of creation, “God said,” and the light was created, the waters were separated, and vegetation sprouted.
But God “formed” and “breathed into” man.
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7
God “fashioned” the woman.
The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. Genesis 2:22
There’s something special about the body, even when the spirit has left it. The body is God’s “poem,” His cherished handiwork. We honor the body in many ways. We decorate the body with clothes and jewels. We workout to shape it into today’s idea of beauty, and we use makeup to paint it.
The honor I was not giving to the body, and particularly to Mama’s body, was that the Holy Spirit had considered her body His temple. Yes, I had acknowledged that many times … read the Scripture and interpreted it to mean that we should take care of our bodies and avoid joining them in immorality.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:19
When God formed and fashioned the bodies of man and woman, He breathed His life into these temples that would house the Holy Spirit. Our God of artistry and love created them in His image, something to honor and cherish.
The Holy Spirit’s temple! Not St. Peter’s Basilica. Not Cathedral Notre Dame. The Christian’s body.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Mama’s spirit is in heaven now, and her body is in the earth waiting for the trumpet of God to sound. I know that her new body will reflect God’s artistry and love.
My Prayer
Father, thank You for creating our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. Thank You for giving significance to every part of our lives. You took such care in creating bodies with the senses that could give pleasure and richness to this earthly life. Thank You for Your gentle lessons and guidance. I am glad that You have given honor to our earthly bodies and that You have new bodies for us.
