2 Corinthians 5:1-10

I remember not that long ago when I thought Paul was just speaking figuratively when he said that “indeed in this house we groan“. I just assumed he was describing our spirit’s longing for God. Now, living in a house that is becoming dated, I understand that Paul also probably meant that we literally groan. I now find involuntary sighs and moans coming out of me when I have to move. So now I am saying with Paul, I too am groaning in this house.

I spent the day recently with a man who had been housed in an exceptional body for a half century. It had been graced with good proportions, strength, looks and agility yet it had been stricken with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. What had been an impressive residence was rapidly becoming a shambles. Medical science informs him that in spite of the best applied maintenance, his house was going to crash in on him in the near future.

The unique thing about this man was his eyes. They were bright, joyful eyes betraying a gentleness of spirit that is rare in men. As its peaceful occupant, I believe he was looking out of the windows of the ruined home with the gleam of anticipation.

I thought this man was invited to the retreat I was hosting for encouragement in his illness. I didn’t know he was going to become my mentor who would display as only he could what Paul was trying to get across in this passage. I think my new friend and brother knew (along with Paul)….

that when the earthly tent which had been his house is torn down, he would have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Indeed in his house he groaned, longing to be clothed with his dwelling from heaven. He was anticipating with increasing clarity that his mortality will be swallowed up by life. He knew that God was preparing him for this very purpose and had given him the Holy Spirit as a pledge.

Consequently this man was 

ogood courage, knowing that while he is at home in this body he is absent from the Lord. He was walking by faith, not by sight. It was his ambition, whether he was in this house or had moved out, to be pleasing to the Father. He knew he must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that he may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

This man was doing good – fulfilling his call as never before, as the light of the world. Christ was shining brightly from him in what some might say was his darkest hour. Those eyes betrayed a hope (even a hunger) for things unseen yet eternal. No one needed to teach this man to number his days that he might present to God a heart of wisdom. His body was all the reminder he needed. This saint is walking by faith.

Father, I pray in behalf of this man that you would guard everything that has been decreed and bestowed from heaven for him. May your mercies flood his life. May joy in increasing measure be the strength of his life. Thank you that he is not waisting his sorrows and is radiating an infectious hope to those nearest him.  May these next chapters of his life be those of a man who has reached his stride and is pressing on toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ. All to your glory Lord. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Share via
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap