Blinded by the Body

BLINDED BY THE BODY

We spend much of our lives attending to the body. We measure its age, feed it, exercise it, massage it, treat its ailments and try to prolong its functioning. We are continually bombarded with information about maintaining the body in its present mortal condition.

None of these things is necessarily wrong. But caring for the body can become an endless occupation, almost a dependency, where we believe our continued well-being rests entirely upon what we do for it.

And yet, regardless of how carefully we maintain it, the mortal body remains subject to death.

We become so occupied with preserving what is temporary that we scarcely consider what is eternal.

Jesus said:

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” — Matthew 6:21

Jesus came to reveal something beyond the preservation of mortal life. He revealed life that has overcome death.

In John 6:51, Jesus said:

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

And again in John 6:63:

“It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

We are occupied with feeding the body that dies, while Jesus is calling us to partake of the life that never dies.

Jesus spoke these words before His death and resurrection, pointing to the life He would give through them. He was revealing something far greater than the continued existence of our mortal bodies.

Paul writes:

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” — 2 Corinthians 4:18

Our natural eyes see a body growing older, requiring maintenance and eventually returning to dust. But when we begin to see with His eyes, we behold something beyond mortality — the glorified, resurrected body promised in Christ.

Paul makes this extraordinary declaration:

“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” — Philippians 3:21

The word vile in this older translation refers to our lowly mortal condition, not to the body being evil.

And again:

“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” — 1 Corinthians 15:44

A spiritual body is not simply a spirit without a body. It is the resurrected body, transformed and no longer subject to corruption and death.

Christ already dwells within His people through His Spirit, while the transformation of our mortal bodies into immortality remains the promised fulfilment.

Paul expresses this beautifully:

“That mortality might be swallowed up of life.” — 2 Corinthians 5:4

We have been conditioned to look at the body through the eyes of mortality, while Christ invites us to behold it through the promise of resurrection.

We can spend our entire earthly lives trying to preserve the body that is passing away, while giving comparatively little attention to the life of Christ within us that will never pass away.

This does not mean neglecting our physical bodies. It means they are no longer the centre of our existence.

Perhaps the deeper question is not how much attention we should give to maintaining our mortal bodies, but how much of our attention has been captured by mortality when Christ has called us to life.

Are we living to preserve mortality, or are we living from the immortality revealed in Christ?