eternal organs

Lewis talks about our immortality today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He describes a time when we will look back on the galaxies as memories.

But he brings up an interesting point. He says that we will be eternal organs in the body of Christ. And that's true. Paul talks about us being feet and hands and unseemly parts. But have you ever thought about YOUR organs being eternal? Weird thought, right?

But that's part of what it means to believe in bodily resurrection. See, many people (including Christians) have a huge misconception about what Christians believe regarding eternity. They think that we're going to be angels, or some other floating spirit that flies around in the clouds and plays harps all day. That's not what we believe as Christians.

We believe in a bodily resurrection. That means, we believe that our bodies will come back to life in a perfect, glorified form and we will live in them, physically in a kingdom, forever. And while we don't know the specifics of how all of that will work, we DO know that Jesus gave us some clues when HE resurrected, the first of us to do so.

What did He do? Well, He ate food. Which very much implies internal (eternal) organs of some kind. I mean, it would be weird to have bodies, and to eat food, but not to have any organs inside, wouldn't it?

So that brings us to the odd, but apparently accurate, thought of eternal stomachs and livers and kidneys and spleens. But perfect ones, that will last us forever. Hard to imagine, but in a way strangely comforting. Because the idea of being a ghostly, hazy spirit floating around in the clouds just feels... unsubstantial, doesn't it?

But eternal skeletons and muscles and skin... that feels better.

One last thought regarding our eternal organs... have you ever thought that our insides look odd (maybe scary or disconcerting?) to us because we were never really meant to see them? God designed us to keep our insides... well, inside. We were designed to see our outsides, and they're beautiful. Most artists would agree that there is very little in this world more beautiful than the human form. He made us to keep our insides inside, and to see the beauty of our outsides.

Which explains a great deal.

Thanks, God, for our eternal organs... and the promise of spending forever with You.