Today, Sunday January 02
“Desiring To Be Clothed…” 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 “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. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”
For the past several days we have been discussing the Judgment Seat of Christ which will take place in the future for the believer. At this judgment we will not be judged for our sins but for our works. Our sins have already been judged at the cross, on Jesus, as He bore our sins and took our punishment!
I’m afraid that many of us, as believers, are living only for the temporal rather than the eternal. In the 1 Corinthians 15 passage, that describes the resurrection of a believer’s body at the rapture, Paul concluded with this exhortation: “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58) This verse implies that if we are living in a selfish, self-centered way then we are living vain and empty lives.
In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul told how that he was able to endure the afflictions and sufferings he was going through in on earth, as he did all he could to share Jesus with others. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For 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. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
It is interesting to note that this passage is the introduction to 2 Corinthians 5:1-11, where Paul reminds us that we also should be walking by faith and not by feelings, because one day we must all be prepared to “appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.” To “walk by faith” simply means that we focus on the eternal rather than the temporal every day! We should attempt to make every decision, for every aspect of our lives, based on the fact that one day, we will have to give an account of what we do, and how we live as a believer.
At least four times in the 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 passage, Paul mentions about being “clothed”. “…desiring to be clothed…”, “…having been clothed, we shall not be found naked…”, and “…not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed...” I don’t think that Paul is indicating that some people are going to be walking around heaven without any clothes on. He is making the point that one of the most embarrassing things that could happen to us, is to be in public, around others, naked without any clothes on. This is one our worst nightmares!
Paul is emphasizing that there is coming a time when we will be ashamed of how we lived empty, vain lives on earth, and were not properly prepared to stand before the Lord on that Day of Judgment! This should motivate us today to take inventory of what we are really living for!
Today, are you living for the temporal or, are you living for the eternal? Do you have a “desire to be clothed” on that Day?
God bless!