I just celebrated another birthday and with that additional year have come new and not-so-exciting changes to this earthly dwelling that I inhabit . . . my physical body. While contemplating the changes that inevitably occur with age, I am amazed again at the absolute incomprehensibility of the theory of evolution. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that our bodies are not evolving they are devolving.
Some examples of de-evolution (from a male non-scientific perspective) include:
- My mind says that I can physically still do the things I did as a twenty-something but my body responds by saying: "I DON'T THINK SO, THAT HURTS!"
- Parts of my body about which I never paid much attention now DEMAND my attention, usually in the form of a dose of pain killer.
- Memory lapses seem to arrive much more frequently than in the past. Although I don't remember for sure if that is true or not.
- Sleep becomes an enigma. Can't sleep late anymore, can't stay awake during the day anymore.
- Hair doesn't grow where it is supposed to grow but makes appearances in unlikely places like the ears and nose. What's with that?
- Generally speaking, the body doesn't function quite like it used to function if it functions at all.
I remember a very wise individual (my dear wife) once saying that perhaps God allows our bodies to deteriorate because He doesn't want us to get comfortable here. I think she is absolutely correct.
In Philippians Chapter 3 Paul confirms her hypothesis. In verses 13-14 we read about "straining toward what is ahead . . . pressing on for the goal . . .which is heavenward." Why would we ever want to press on toward something else if we were satisfied with what we have here? If our bodies, health, wealth, pleasure, etc. continued to improve we would become so comfortable and complacent that we would never want to leave. It is for that reason that God has set in motion the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics – the Law of Entropy. We are falling apart as we age! If you don't believe that see the examples above. If you haven't experienced any of those examples . . . just wait, your time is a coming!
Paul continues in Philippians 3:20-21, for a true believer in Jesus Christ: "our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." In other words, if we are followers of Christ why would we want to stay in this foreign land, a land in which our human frailties are becoming more and more apparent? We ought instead look forward with amazement, wonder, and excitement at the prospect of leaving this fallen world and our decaying bodies and following Jesus into Glory where our real citizenship lies! A citizenship complete with a new, glorified body that will never decay (or need pain killers) and where we will live with Him for eternity!
And so, as another year passes and as another pain emerges in this frail tent called a human body, I eagerly await His coming whether I meet Him in the clouds with all the saints or He calls me home when my work for Him is finished on this earth. In the meantime, praise the Lord for ibuprofen!
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