This Tent....

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” ~ 2 Corinthians 5:1, NKJV

In the previous chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul explained how he and his fellow workers could - even in the midst of tremendous hardship - “not lose heart.” (2 Cor. 4:16) Paul's hope was not invested in this world. He didn't look to find satisfaction or perfection here. Instead, he looked to the world to come, and the new life given to him in Christ, knowing that as believers “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.” (2 Cor. 5:17-18) Paul's outward man was perishing but his inward man was being renewed day by day. Why? Because he knew that his outward man - his physical body - wasn't supposed to be his permanent home. His apt metaphor for the believer's present body is that of a tent. Why should Paul invest all his emotional, physical, and intellectual energy into preserving a pole-and-canvas construction that (a) couldn't be preserved and (b) wouldn't be needed for much longer? Paul took care of himself, certainly. But protecting and bettering his own body or human experience didn't weigh on him as if this life is all there is. He knew that his Savior and God was preparing a permanent dwelling - a resurrected body - for him, eternal in the heavens. Paul had eternal life coming. Paul had a perfect body waiting for him. Paul had a home in heaven. Paul had citizenship in the new heavens and the new earth that are to come. Paul had what all believers have in Christ: redemption. Mankind, in its forefather Adam, squandered its inheritance. We brought death on ourselves and on the universe we were given to govern and enjoy. We lost perfection. Our bodies are walking (or sometimes not) proof of our losses, as they go back to the dust from which they were created. We can spend our short lives denying the truth and desperately trying to patch up the damaged goods we were born with; or we can trust the same God whom Paul trusted. He conquered death for us. He won back what we lost. He raises the dead. He gives us new bodies. My outward man is perishing, like Paul's, but my inward man can be renewed day by day, because my Savior loved me.

by Rebecca...