2 Corinthians 5:1-5

                                                             2 Corinthians 5:1-5

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.  For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

 

Our lives on earth are not easy.  We have good days and difficult days.  All the joys of this earth are tainted by sin and all the sorrows of this earth are magnified by sin.  This is not how we were created to live, and it is not how God has planned for us to live throughout eternity.  Paul was one of the most productive men to ever live. Paul experience great joys as well as deep sorrows.  This passage helps us to understand Paul’s perspective in life that helped him endure the sorrows as well as prevented him from becoming enamored by the joys.

 

LIFE IN THIS BODY IS PASSING: Paul calls his body a “tent.”  A tent is a temporary shelter but is not a permanent dwelling place.  Too often, we live as if this life were permanent.  We strive for comfort, health, strength, and influence.  There is nothing wrong with those things; but they are woefully insufficient purposes in life.  When we experience pain, illness, weakness, and rejection; it is easy to become discouraged.  Paul did not live for this present life and did not become upset in the face of disappointment.  We cannot allow ourselves to be motivated by the pleasures in this life or demotivated by the pains.  The joys and sorrows of this life are like a tent: temporary.

 

LIFE IN THIS BODY IS PAINFUL: Paul said that his life in the current body was marked by groaning.  That is what we do when we experience pain.  The persecution and hardship of living in a sinful world with a sinful heart is not easy.  We groan under the pain of this life, and we groan in an anticipation of a new and better life that we have been promised in eternity.  There is a longing in our suffering for the new body and new earth that will be our eternal habitation.  It is okay to recognize that life is difficult as long as it creates in us a longing for the life to come.

 

LIFE IN THIS BODY IS PROMISING: Our hard times are marked by hope.  We have eternal promises of a life with Christ and without sin and all of the effects of sin on our minds, hearts, and bodies.  Besides those precious promises of the future, we have been given the precious gift of the Holy Spirit in the here and now.  God has created us to live with a longing for Him and the desire to be with Him.  The guarantee that this will happen is the presence of the Spirit in our lives.  If He is with us now, it makes it clear that He will be with us for eternity.

 

APPLICATION: Don’t fall into the trap of living for the temporary pleasures of this life.  Endure the hardships of our sinful hearts and societies knowing that these are not strange occurrences in our lives.  Be thankful for the presence of the Holy Spirit and be encouraged by the promise that His presence in our lives represents. 

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