Good morning and good Wednesday. Here we are today, November 7, all the Holidays right around the corner. Can you believe that Thanksgiving is 2 weeks from tomorrow? Time flies when you’re having fun right? It’s great to be back on the US mainland close to family for this Holiday season. The last few years were beyond tough to be so far away, seeing family was just not an option. Being so far away has many different effects on you. One of them is the value of your family. I hope that you are close with your family and are able to spend lots of great quality time with them.
Marge had a ‘quasi’ day off yesterday and in between a few of her conference calls and a few of my Zoom calls we were able to sneak in a walk at the Botanical Gardens late yesterday afternoon. There’s just something great about tearing away for a walk in the park. It’s God’s decompression chamber. We love to just walk amongst the trees, flowers, fountains and gardens and just soak it up. It really is the simple things in life that can bring the most satisfaction. God built this world for us to enjoy, get out and enjoy His Goodness!
Today we’re cruising right along in 2 Corinthians and we take a pit stop at chapter 5. Lots of great stuff from Paul in chapter 5, I’ll have to pare it down and really focus. Every morning before I open God’s Word I pray. I pray that God’s Holy Spirit reveal His Word to me. You see on my own, Dan has no chance to figure out the depth, complexity and power of God’s Word. But the Holy Spirit does. He can guide me. He can peel the onion and allow me to enjoy a glimpse of whats really underneath. For many years I would read God’s Word and just ‘not get it.’ That’s when God gave me a message. “You need me to explain it to you. You can’t understand me on your own.” Just like if I were studying astro-physics or robotical engineering, as much as I wanted to, I just would not be able to learn it on my own with only a textbook. I would need a teacher. A great teacher. The Holy Spirit is that teacher. I trust that you’re saying the same prayer before you open God’s Word. A prayer that the Holy Spirit come alongside you as a personal tutor and reveal the truth of God’s Word to your heart. Pray that you can ‘consume’ His Words and be able to ‘meditate on them day and night.’ (Psalms 1:2) Just remember this one thing, “YOU NEED GOD TO UNDERSTAND GOD.”
After I’ve said this prayer and then read the chapter for the day, God will reveal a particular verse or topic that hits me like a hammer. That’s what I write about. This morning it’s 2 Corinthians 5:8-9.
“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.”
What a fantastic verse. If I were to ask you what the goal of your day is, what would you say? To just get through the work day? Finish off that big project? Not have the kids kill each other? Those would all be good answers. The answer God is looking for? Make the aim of your day to please Him. Think about that. Your entire day. Everything that you do from the time you get up until your exhausted head hits the pillow tonight. In all you do, it should be your aim to please Him. That just seems so unattainable.
It’s ironic that he uses the word aim. One of my favorite sayings is that “if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it everytime.” You see, this is not a checklist to be completed. I don’t look back at my day tonight and say, “Yep, I pleased the Lord in everything I did today!” Its just not possible for us, we’re sinners by nature and imperfect before God so we can’t please Him in everything.
So what do we aim at? You aim at a target. Our target is to please the Lord. We aim at the target. Our daily goal is keep our eyes on the target (the Lord) and all we do is to be aimed at Him. I think about an archer at practice. His goal is the bullseye. In order to hit it, he squares up to the target, his eyes firmly focused on it. It seems silly but he doesn’t face the opposite direction from the target and expect to hit it. He needs to see his target to hit it. What an image. Make God your target and with all you do today aim at Him. Beautiful.
Let’s also unpack the first part of the verse. Paul is talking about our physical bodies here on Earth versus our glorified bodies we will receive in Heaven.
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, (2 Cor 5:1)
Our ‘Earthly tent’ is the bodies we currently have. A tent is a temporary structure to offer shelter for a short time. A tent also wears out quickly compared to a permanent house. God does not compare our Earthly bodies to a brick home, but a tent. You see, these bodies are temporary. This life is temporary. Our time here on Earth is not the purpose. Sometimes we can get embroiled in this life and we think it is the only thing there is. If you have called upon the name of Jesus as your Savior, you have eternity on the other side of this life. Eternity in the presence of God. Think about that.
The average life span of a US male is 76.3 years. Females enjoy an extra 5 years here on the planet at 81.3 years. So I have 76 years here on the planet in this “tent.” It might sound like a long time as that’s all we have as a refenece when it comes to time. But God says, “don’t just think like a human, I have eternity for you after this life.” Its hard to define eternity, our minds just can’t comprehend a forever with no end. Our mortal minds, just like our comprehension of time have a limit. Listen to some of these definitions of eternity.
“a state to which time has no application”
“infinite or unending time”
“a seemingly endless or immeasurable time”
“without beginning or end”
So, as our time on Earth ends, then what? Well, our Earthly bodies being nothing but flesh and bone, will perish. These bodies are temporary, God never intended them to physically last forever. But He does have bodies that will last forever. We’ll need new bodies that can endure eternity, right? When our ‘tents’ perish, and our souls go to Heaven we will receive these new glorified bodies and they will be wonderful. I believe we will need these new glorified bodies with extra special senses to be able to fully comprehend the glory of God. What a day that will be when we encounter the Lord and His Glory!
Paul is saying sometimes he wishes he was ‘away from the body and at home with the Lord.’ The glory of being with the Lord in a glorified body is oh so, ever tempting. But Paul says whether we are here or in Heaven our goal should be to ‘aim to please Him.’
What a beautiful image we have today. Such a personal heart-felt comment we have from Paul. He had been beaten, tortured, stoned and imprisoned. It’s estimated that he walked over 10,000 miles on His missionary journeys! I think there were many days that Paul was hoping for Heaven and that glorified body. I bet there was alot of groaning in that old body of his! But as long as we are here, its God’s plan and we are to please Him. How do you please God? Love Him, love others and simply give out His Word.
Thanks for playing along today, I trust that your personal time in God’s Word was as fun and rewarding as mine!
Blessings for your day and may your ‘tent’ not cause you too much groaning today.
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