Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
—Romans 8:6-11
by: Leanne Lippincott.
A fictitious tombstone read, “Born June 14, 1934. Died July 8, 1974. Buried March 2, 2004.” People can be alive, and yet not be living. That was the case with my mother, who spent the last few years of her life housebound. Her days consisted of lying in bed or sitting in a chair, with cans of vitamin-fortified liquids serving as her meals. When God finally took her home, I felt joy and thankfulness as well as sorrow.
Many people who are out and about in the world also aren’t living. The bodies of all mankind are dead because of sin. But Christians—those of us who have the Spirit of God living in us—are made alive through Christ. God has raised us up while we’re still on earth, giving life to our mortal bodies while foreshadowing the day when we’ll receive glorified, immortal bodies.