Jeremy didn’t realise what he was getting into when he arrived at the university for his three-year course and asked for the cheapest dorm room available. “It was awful,” he recounted. “The room and its bathroom were terrible.” But he had little money and little choice. “All I could do,” he said, “was think, I have a nice home to go back to in three years’ time, so I’ll stick with this and make the most of my time here.”
Jeremy’s story mirrors the everyday challenges of living in an “earthly tent”—a human body that will die (2 Corinthians 5:1), operating in a world that is passing away (1 John 2:17). Thus we “groan and are burdened” (2 Corinthians 5:4) as we struggle to cope with the many difficulties life throws at us.
What keeps us going is the certain hope that one day we’ll have an immortal, resurrected body—a “heavenly dwelling” (v. 4)—and be living in a world free of its present groaning and frustration (Romans 8:19-22). This hope enables us to make the most of this present life God has lovingly provided. He’ll also help us to use the resources and talents He’s given us, so we can serve Him and others. And that’s why “we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it” (2 Corinthians 5:9).
By Leslie Koh
REFLECT & PRAY
How can you remind yourself of the hope you have? How can you encourage others with this hope?
Father, I look forward to being with You in Your heavenly home. Thank You for the promise and strength this hope gives me each day.
During the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples He was leaving soon. But He assured them they’d be with Him again in heaven (John 14:1-4). He was going there to prepare a place for them in His “Father’s house” (v. 2), where they’d live eternally with Him (2 Corinthians 5:1). In that glorious place “there will be no more night. [We] will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give [us] light” ( Revelation 22:5). And “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (21:4). We’ll be with Christ and all “whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (v. 27).
Alyson Kieda
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