Daily Devotion - 1 Corinthians 15 - Life Death and Corn Seeds

A New Understanding of Life and Death

In one week, three people we knew died at retirement age. I’m always saddened to learn of people dying in their 60s. They spent their whole lives working, looking forward to the golden years when you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.

And then it’s over.

I imagine how cheated I’d feel to face death just as I’m about to retire. No vacations, no grand kids. No sleeping in and tinkering the lazy day away. No sitting by the fireplace growing old together with my husband.

But I found peace and a new understanding of death through a sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:35-58 as my pastor explained the relationship between verses 37 and 42.

37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable

Just Like a Corn Seed

My Dad planted a lot of corn seeds on our family farm when I was young. He’d spend weeks burying the seeds in the ground. We couldn’t see it beneath the dirt, but the seeds were changing. It was fun to see the leaves sprout above the ground and grow above my head in a few months.

By fall, these little seeds transformed into tall, colorful stalks of corn, unrecognizable from the original seed form. And the corn gave life to our cattle and the family Christmas budget!

In 1 Corinthians, Paul says we are just like corn seeds.

We don’t mourn the seeds as they’re buried because we know they’re not lost- they’re coming alive.

Burial doesn’t mean it’s over for the seed. In fact, the corn seed can only come into its most life-giving glory after it’s in the ground.

So it is with our friends who passed away.

It’s not over for them either. We can’t see it, but even though they are buried, they still live, just in an unrecognizable, unimaginable form. Just as with the corn seeds, our life is far from over; it’s transformed into something marvelous.

When loved ones are lost before their time, we grieve and anguish for the experiences death cheated from them. It seems so unfair that they should miss out on so much of life.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for making us alive in Your Son, Jesus. Thank you for loving me so much to make a way for me to be transformed into glory. Please help us comprehend Your mysteries so we will know His peace beyond understanding when we or someone we love faces death at an early age. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

To listen to the whole sermon, visit Village Community Church and scroll down or Control-F for “Our Resurrected Bodies”