Daily Devotion for March 2, 2018

Prayers
Scripture
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
We only do this every couple of years. You'll need to listen to this on a PC or earbuds to appreciate the agonizing beauty of Rossini’s masterpiece.
Music by Gioachino Rossini (1841)
Lyrics by an unknown 13th Century Franciscan monk
For a Sense of Wonder at God's Creation
Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe. Delight me to see how your Christ plays in ten thousand places, in limbs and eyes not His, to be the father through the features of men's faces. Each day enrapture me with your marvelous things without number. I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all.
For Those Making All Kinds of Journeys
I pray for all who will be making journeys today: For those who are going to a new job and for those who are going to work for the last time today; For the emergency services who will travel at high speed on land, water or in the air, to bring help to others; For those starting a new life as they move into a new home; For those travelling to or from prison; For people who will go into hospital today; For young people on their way to school, college and university; For those who are lost on the journey of life; For those who will die today and make their final journey. I remember all these people now, and ask your blessing upon them, Lord.
Doxology
Now to him who is able to keep us from stumbling and to present ourselves blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.
Today’s “Remember the Bible” Question
What verse can you cite to people who tell us the Bible means something different than what is printed?
Answer: Proverbs 3:5
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;”

Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV)
Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.

1 Corinthians 15:42-49 (ESV)
The Resurrection of the Dead [5]
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.
It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.
As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Notes on the Scripture

ere, Paul actually finds the flaw in his own analogy. He spoke of our human body as a seed, which disappears and transforms into a great plant or tree. An oak tree is still an acorn, but an acorn transformed, an acorn that has fulfilled its potential. This is success; the acorn that does not transform simply rots and disappears forever.
We know that our human bodies will not last. The human body is created from “dust” — natural matter, which we would more likely call “chemicals” today. But this animal houses a soul. Similar to the way an acorn is fertilized from outside to enable it to transform some day, our body is fertilized by a soul. The acorn will disappear, for its only function is to nurture the germ within it, so that it may transform into something greater.
But there is a fundamental difference, for our souls will transform into something imperishable. As great as an oak tree might be compared to an acorn, it cannot compare to the form we will take when we are resurrected. For the oak is still just a plant; but our new form, our new “body,” will be imperishable, as are the forms of angels or “the man of heaven” — Christ after His resurrection.
Christ has shown us what we will be. For after He was resurrected, he was able to appear completely human. In fact, God the Father personally appeared to Abraham as a man. (Genesis 18)
The details of our existence after our bodies die is still a mystery. But knowing that we will have the possibility of being much as we are now is comforting; for change is always unsettling and often frightening, and no change moreso than physical death. So, this is one reason for Christ appearing just as he was before he dies; to comfort us, to demonstrate to us that we do not need to fear a radical change.

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