“He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer everything, everywhere. “
( Philippians 3:21 )
The Confession says, “In loving and knowing God, we experience communion with God and allow more and more of our life to be conformed to the way of Jesus–his life, death, and resurrection. We yield ourselves to God, letting the Holy Spirit mold us into the image of Christ “
Five years ago, to the day, I wrote on this scripture passage and how it fits the them from the article of faith on Spirituality. [The Body Divine ] I could almost wish that I could just post that post for this for today’s entry Not because I am lazy, but because it is pretty good. (I hope it is alright to say I like my own work.)
But today, as opposed to that day, I am feeling good, have energy left at the end of the day, and feel up to writing. But the problem is, now that I have that previous column in my mind, I can not think of anything original. Or . . . maybe I can.
[Please note, this verse from Philippians is talking about when we are “citizens in Heaven” and that is the paradigm that I am setting these considerations in.] One of the things about being “good”, that is wholesome and without evil or sin, there is not much variation. I mean, either you are good -not straying from the “narrow path”- or you are sinful following all sorts of temptations and vices. (I’m sorry, but sometimes it is just that cut-and-dried when we talk about sin.) And if as the Confession advices, we become more conformed to Jesus, we will no longer be original but will be as Jesus is, formed in his image. In becoming like Jesus we yield up all those vices and sinful traits. That is not to say that being “good” is necessarily like being a clone with no distinctiveness. It is just that sometimes it is our “dark side” that makes us “colorful”. And we do not know that our distinctiveness and uniqueness will survive death and new life.
But the opposing questions is this: is it worth it to hold on to our “dark side” and then miss out on Heaven? Or to be defiant and say, “No, at the risk of my eternal soul, I refuse to give up my own will!” The writer of Philippians is equating the “weak mortal bodies” as sinful bodies seeking earthly pleasures and satisfaction. In the verses previous to this, the writer talks about those who seek this type of life.
Mennonites recognize that our human tendency is to seek the easy and rich life, when in fact it is the simple and basic life that we should strive for. In our history, Mennonites sought the simple life in both clothing and deportment. But now we are indistinguishable from the “worldly” society. But however “fallen” we may be in this world, we seek to be conformed to Jesus in the world to come, and practice the discipline of trying to conform to Jesus’ example in this world. In other words, Mennonites try not to be “colorful.” But it is not easy gentle reader. Being “dark” and “colorful” is tempting!
May you gentle reader look past the easy and colorful life to the life of Jesus and the hope that is to come in Heaven. Selah!
