Tag: home

October 10 – Being Absent Is Being Present

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” – 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (ESV)

Our promises found in our passage include one much the same as the words Paul wrote to the Philippian church toward the end of his ministry. This letter to the church at Corinth however, was not written while he was in prison. In these verses Paul was not saying he had absolutely no contact; there is prayer, the indwelling Spirit, and fellowship through the Word. Paul was expressing a strong yearning to be at home with his Lord. We find the Psalmist expressing the same sentiments in Psalm 23. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4) There’s no place that we go when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death where God absent from us He is with us. Heaven is where God is. “Surely … I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)  So where is the house of the Lord? It’s where God dwells and that is in heaven. The hope of the psalmist was to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord.

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August 11 – Whom To Please

“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.”– 2 Corinthians 5:8-9 (ESV)

Because heaven is a better place than earth, the apostle Paul would rather have been there, with God. This sentiment simply states Paul’s feelings and longings. There is nothing wrong and much is right to desire to enter heaven in the presence of the Lord. What might you choose to have instead of being in the presence of Jesus Christ right now? Is there anything that would hold you fast to this world? We are not suggesting that anyone should attempt to change God’s plan or timing. He has us here for a purpose and that is to please Him in all we think, say and do. To tell others of His grace. God’s timing for us is perfect. We will be here right up until the moment God has decided we are to be in His presence. And when we are there all that we hold dear now on this earth will be gone from our desires. Someday, we will be transformed to be like the body Jesus has after His resurrection. But now, we have our goal to proclaim the love of Jesus Christ and help others find Him as their Lord and Savior.

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August 10 – Home But Away From Home

“So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Corinthians 5:6-7 (ESV)

True believers in Jesus Christ are confident with respect to the future even though we do not know what the future is going to be in this world. It is the very presence of the Spirit in the lives of believers that provides this confidence with the promises of God. Eventually our time and life on this earth will come to an end, when it does, we will be with the Lord. Now we are at home in a world that is not our own and even our bodies will someday be done away. Also it means we not in the Lord’s presence physically. ‘Being at home’ and ‘being away from home’ refer respectively to being in one’s own country and being a stranger living abroad. In other words, the image of the external being that we observe, is passive and passing, while the internal provision of faith is active and abiding. We focus our attention not on visible things that are temporal but on those that are invisible and timeless. We live not by what we can see in this world but by the faith God has given us to believe.

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