This life is a prelude to eternity. For the believer, it is an eternity of hope, fulfilled desires, and the total satisfaction of living in the literal presence of our eternal God. It is an unending reunion too with the loved ones who departed this life before us. What else it is, is hinted at in Scripture, but a full knowledge of what lies before us seems to be beyond human comprehension. Within our prelude, we experience a full range of emotions and thinking as we respond to the happenings we are a part of. For many, those experiences are raw and traumatic, gouging holes in our hearts that seem totally irreparable. Broken bodies do not bring the same pain as a broken heart does. The splinters of brokenness continually prick against the spirit that wants to escape them. As believers, we find a healing with our God, but still it is often a healing that although it allows for growth and the experiencing of God’s grace, the brokenness casts its shadow over the inner spirit, over relationships, and over our ability to fully embrace all that God has for us. The wounded believer, though revived beyond expectations, senses the lingering taunt of what-could-have-been.
The fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians pulses with the hope of eternity. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. The words, “buried in brokenness,” echoed in my mind and my heart as I read them. I compared the New Living Translation that I had before me with other translations. I realized that what God said to my spirit differed somewhat from the actual intent of the words, but I knew the truth was still there. We may live on this earth with a stubborn brokenness, that has been softened by God’s love and grace, but still it lingers. We may cry out for the thorn of our brokenness to be removed, and yet God still allows it. When we ask for the “why?,” we are reminded of the things we learn from our brokenness, the dependence on God that transcends necessity, the fragile spirit that senses, often without words, the brokenness of others. The hope of eternity offers unimaginable security, potential, and freedom, but for the one who is aware that she will probably be “buried in brokenness,” that hope is the light she reaches for within her shadow. Precious believer, when life brings a brokenness that cannot be shaken, know with a certainty that God has neither forgotten you nor abandoned you. His loving Father-heart embraces you in your brokenness and whispers the hope of eternity.
(Related Bible reading: 1 Corinthians 15:42-55)
