February 25

“For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling…”—2 CORINTHIANS 5:4 

In the above verse, Paul talks about our bodies as a tent we live in, which conveys the idea of being temporary, flimsy and transient. We’d blow away in a gale, but waiting for us is an eternal home in heaven, not built by human hands. In the following verse, Paul writes, “Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 

Solomon, in his pursuit of finding meaning and purpose to life, makes a profound statement about something he can’t run away from. Having indulged in all kinds of pleasure; wealth, women, food, drink and knowledge, he had found it all to be utterly meaningless. In Ecclesiastes 3:11, he says of his Creator, “He has also set eternity into the hearts of men.” In this statement, Solomon acknowledges a universal truth that counteracts the one of dying. Inherent in all of us is a need to connect with something outside of ourselves that exceeds our own mortality. 

In his book, ‘Mere Christianity’, C.S. Lewis writes:“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not mean that the universe is a fraud, but that earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, only to arouse it, to suggest and provoke the real thing.”

The real thing is God Himself and God created us for Himself; and not just for the average three score years and ten, but that we may live with Him forever. In this life, our bodies are merely the tents we live in, subject to all kinds of frailties, losses and tragedies, but in the next life, we live in an “eternal house”, which is permanent, strong and secure. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” The only Eternal One is our Lord, and to be absent from the body is to be present with Him. That is our heavenly dwelling, our eternal house, and the world we were made for.

PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, knowing that I have an eternal home with You is what gives my life meaning and purpose. Help me to live it well, seeking your will in all I do.

TO REFLECT UPON: How does knowing that I have an eternal home in heaven affect how I live on earth?