MY BODY.
God has given me a special item to treasure and cherish, to nurture and preserve, to love and enhance, to exercise and keep from harm, to beautify and honor: I am referring to my body. Because it is God’s direct gift to me, my body is holy.
Some Biblical Backup.
Colossians 1: 15 tells me that: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Here is my unorthodox explanation of this text. In the first place: it is impossible to fully explain what this means, because nobody was present at the moment “God spoke and it came to be”, as Psalm 33: 9 casually remarks. We cannot possibly grasp this event, and so, I will only offer my thought, and my hesitant interpretation.
To me “The Firstborn over all creation”, suggests that Jesus – not Adam and Eve – was the first human. Jesus, in the capacity of ‘being human’, created all things, as the verses 16-20 of Colossians 1 further explain: For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. These invisible items could perhaps explain electricity, television, Internet – the invisible telecommunication system.
Our basic holiness is further explained in: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own”. (1 Corinthians 6: 19).
Back to My Body.
Through Jesus, as the first human being, in whom everything finds its origin, we too have immense power and potential. We still have that capacity, even though we are squandering our talents through pursuing selfish goals. Our bodies suffer, also because we have disregarded its holiness. Through omni-present pollution, our very existence is mortally weakened.
A few years ago, the British medical journal, estimated that the largest percentage of the global population suffers from some medical problem: indeed, world-wide health is widely compromised. Our bodies are no longer ‘holy’, that is purely perfect. I, have, by the grace of God, maintained good health, have had a lasting loving life, from birth to old age, through infancy through teenage years, through marriage till today, experiencing daily the love of my children and grandchildren and good friends. I feel God’s love daily.
The puzzle I am trying to solve is why my wife – who I had known since childhood – suffered from dementia at least 10 years before she died. She was very intelligent, and wanted to study, but she grew up in a time of strict male/female divisions. Her older sister, when the matter was discussed, said: “She will get married anyway”. That was in time when the women, who were in the workforce, were expected to quit their jobs, and devote their lives – and bodies – to their husbands. I tend to think that this old custom has been a source of grief – mostly hidden – for many a married woman.
I now live in a senior citizen environment, where women outnumber men at least 2:1. This past week I started to participate in a gym class. There were some 15 women and only 5 men. It is interesting to speculate why women generally outlive their male spouses. I will ask some of them what they think about this inequality in life expectancy. Are women, through evolution, tougher and more life-enhancing?
The End of Children.
The March 3 issue of THE NEW YORKER, had a long article with the title: The End of Children, with the subtitle: What do falling birth rates mean for the future? I wonder whether giving birth, within reason, prolongs life. Having children, loving them, caring for them, worrying about them, does this prolong life?
Is the current state of no child or less than 2.1 child, a subconscious admitting that the future looks so bleak, that it is preferable to forego the likely hardship that awaits the next generation, facing resource depletion and climate change?
I don’t know the answer. It seems that my life really belongs to an older generation. Since my wife and I were born in 1928, a radical change has taken place. As I see it, all in preparation for the NEW AGE to come, where sex differences will have disappeared, where everybody will be equal, where discrimination based on sexual orientation will have disappeared.
Luke 20: 35 tells me that: they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.
I am seeing more and greater signs that TIME is running out. Everything is becoming what it is, especially in the USA, always having been a leader in good and evil.
Make your constant prayer be: Maranatha, Lord, Come.