“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:13, 16 NIV)

J.R.R. Tolkien was once asked by an interviewer to define what made him tick. Tolkien answered, “I don’t tick. I am not a machine.”

Yet we often see ourselves as ordinary, mere mortals, and lose the opportunity to worship God, praising Him for the amazing work and gift of who we are as created beings.

God was the first to say so about you and me!

When God created the earth and all the animals that fill the earth and the sea, God said it was Good. When God created Adam and Eve, He said it was very good.

The Psalmist echoed God’s own words: Psalm 139:14 (NIV) “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Yet, this lie from ancient times persists that these bodies of ours are the problem. We believe that somehow true freedom is not found in the very wonderful work of the MASTER DESIGNER who gave us these bodies. We tell ourselves perhaps if we could change or alter what God has done then we would be “better.” I have stood at many a funeral where someone claims that the deceased is now finally FREE because the body was a prison.

It is true that our bodies were created out of dust. It is also true that these bodies will return to dust. It was Benjamin Franklin who opined, “…in this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes!”

The problem is not that our bodies came from dust. The problem is SIN. Sin reversed the miracle of God’s creation. Sin destroys what God created. Sin destines God’s wonderfully created bodies of ours to the grave and to return to DUST. SIN is the problem. This is where the bad news is met by a God who not only made us but also remakes us. He chose to do this by sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross. When you believe and trust in Jesus you are a new creation! The old has gone and the new has arrived.

These wonderfully bodies God made will be beautifully remade as explained in
1 Corinthians 15:
“But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

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 15:51-57)

Prayer
Lord God, we know that because of our sin, because of the sinfulness that is in this world, our bodies will return to dust. That’s what You told us. That is a consequence of the sin in this world and in our lives. But we praise You and thank You, for You are greater than that sin. You took that sin to the cross. And when we believe in You, You grant us the forgiveness of our sins, and You grant to us new life. And while we still will face some hardships in this life, and we still will encounter pains and aches in these bodies, and they will not hold up. We have the promise that you will remake us, and we look forward to the day when You will welcome us home, and we will have these new bodies that will never, ever perish or die. Until then, Lord, grant us the ability to see the wonder of the creation that You did when you gave to us these gifts that we have in our bodies and in this life, that You blessed us with. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.