I'm a fair-skinned kind of person. That means that I'm really white and tend to sunburn easily. If my skin was the only consideration, I probably shouldn't be a farmer because I am out in the sun so much. Four years ago, an elder brother of mine died as a result of melanoma, an aggressive type of skin cancer. He was more fair-skinned than I. Since then, I have tried to take care of my skin a little more, seeing the dermatologist once a year. The last time I saw the skin-doctor, he gave me a prescription of efudex for my skin. Efudex causes the first layer of skin to peel off, taking away the precancerous lesions with it. I didn't realize I had so many. It takes twenty one days to complete the process, but when it is finished and healed, the skin will be new. This process reminded me of a little known fact, every seven years there is a complete change of cells in your body. You are a completely different person than you were seven years ago except you look the same, act the same, personality is the same and memories are the same.
Efudex made me think about the resurrection. Paul, the apostle, says, "But some will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come" (I Corinthians 15:35)? If God has created a means by which all of the cells in our body can change in seven years and yet we retain our identity, He will have no problem retaining our identity in the resurrection. We will live in perfect bodies powered by the Spirit, rather than a body powerfully influenced by the desires of the flesh. That is the difference between our old bodies and the new ones we will receive in the resurrection. The new body is still a real, tangible and recognizable body. It will not be ghost-like! "It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body" (I Corinthians 15:44). What a great future we have in Christ!
Grace & Peace;
Tom
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