Everywhere we look we see people who are focused on taking care of their bodies. Many New Year’s resolutions include eating better, working out, or losing weight. And so we join gyms and start diet plans; we buy creams to smooth our wrinkles, and dyes to color our hair; we lift weights to build muscle, and get braces to help our smile. If there is a flaw, we fix it. The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery noted a 173% increase of cosmetic surgery between the years 1997 and 2000, with more than ten million cosmetic medical procedures now being performed annually in this country. I’m not saying that any of that is right or wrong, but we certainly put an emphasis on taking care of our bodies.
These bodies, though, are only temporary. On those reality shows where people buy houses or renovate their existing ones, they often speak of getting that “forever home,” that place that meets all their needs, and from which they will never have to move again. I like to think of our bodies that way. The ones we have now are good and serve their purpose, but we are in the market for a forever home—a perfect body.
Paul compares the body to a house that is only temporary. Remember, he was a leather worker and tent maker by trade, so he was very familiar with this concept. These tents were intentionally temporary, and were used by soldiers and nomads (most famously by the wandering Israelites during the Exodus). One day, though, these tents will be exchanged for a house with a foundation. These bodies will be exchanged for perfect ones. In II Corinthians 5:1 Paul wrote, “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
These reality shows always ask, “What are your must haves in a house?” Some need a fourth bedroom, an office, proximity to work, a mother-in-law suite, or a finished basement. What are your must haves for a body? One that never gets sick? One that will never slow down or wear out? One that will never die? No problem. God can give you that forever home, and once you move in, you will never be on the hunt for anything else ever again.
In the meantime, that does not mean that we throw up our hands in futility. Just because we cannot be perfect here does not mean that we are not supposed to use our bodies for the glory of God while we wait for our perfect ones. In verses nine and ten of the same chapter Paul says, “For whether we are home or away (meaning in these bodies on earth or absent from them in heaven), we make it our aim to please the Lord. For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of things done in the body…”
In the twin passage where Paul discussed this same concept—I Corinthians 15–he gave this conclusion: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (v.58).”
