Day 196: Child As King

1 Corinthians 15:35-58; 2 Kings 11; Micah 2

Paul spends a good chunk of this chapter talking about our earthly bodies verses our heavenly bodies. He says that currently, we live in weak and decaying forms. But, when it's all over, we will live in heavenly bodies that are strong and won't decay. Do we know what those look like? No. I don't know if we will be 8 feet tall with wings or our skin will turn gold or what. But what I do know, what shape we take when God sets up eternity on earth as it is in heaven doesn't matter. We won't care what we look like because we will be too busy basking in the radiance of The Lord. The point is, it is eternity, and we will be there forever with God without hurt or pain or sadness.

He closes with a few lines about the focus that the followers of Christ should have: "My dear friends, stand firm and don't be shaken. Always keep busy working for The Lord. You know that everything you do for him is worthwhile." If we kept as busy working for The Lord as we do everything else, imagine all the lives that would be changed! What we do for God is not in vain, it won't be wasted, God won't ignore it. Everything we can do to serve God, give him glory, and further the kingdom of heaven, God will use and turn it into miracles that we couldn't create on our own.

Joash was only 7 years old when he is crowned king. The Lord would rather have a child sit on the throne of Judah than have a grown up who is evil. I like that this detail is kept to the very end of the chapter, the last sentence, almost as if it is unimportant compared to the anointing of this king, the destruction of the temple of Baal, and the eliminating of the evil queen Athaliah. God likes to choose and use the unexpected to do wonderful things, whether that be children to rule a nation, or the timid to work miracles, or the weak to lead the strong. We don't need to have all the wisdom and strength to accomplish what God asks of us. He will fill in where there are weaknesses, and the more weaknesses we have, the more miracles he gets to work.

Despite those who abuse their power, God is going to restore and provide hope and protection for those who love him. He will take those prisoners, those sheep without a shepherd, and he will rescue them. We have to remember in times of persecution or instability or hatred, that our Lord is bigger than those things. We have to remember that those difficulties are temporary. God's hope of eternity and his protection are promises and the more tightly we hold to those things, the less this world can have a hold on us.