READ: 2 Corinthians 5:4 NLT
'While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.'
Our society tries to avoid talking about death. Paul could not be more different! For Paul it was an incredibly exciting subject because he was convinced that his life was in God’s hands and so he could be completely confident about the future.
Paul has two pictures that he uses in his teaching about death. First, he speaks of our bodies being like a tent. Tents are temporary and the day will come when the tent is taken down so that we can live in an eternal home in heaven. And he also talks about our bodies being like a set of clothes. They will do for the moment and indeed we are quite comfortable wearing them. But God has a much better set of clothes waiting for us, and we should be looking forward to the day when we will be able to wear them. Our temporary human bodies will be swallowed up in life.
For the Christian, it is always true that the best is yet to be. Understandably we are all very unsure about the future. The idea of death and what lies beyond it is, by definition, outside our experience and understanding. That means that the big issue is trust. We need to place our trust firmly in God knowing that wherever he leads us it is bound to be good. I have firm memories of our annual family holiday. As a little boy, I never had any idea what the destination was or how we could possibly get there. But what is more, I didn’t need to know. My father had made all the plans and everything worked out smoothly and happily. If a human father has the ability to plan a family holiday, how much more sure we can be that our perfect heavenly father can plan our future.




QUESTION: How should Paul’s teaching about death affect your own thinking?
PRAYER: Loving Father, thank you so much that I can look to the future with peace and confidence. I place myself in your hands and trust you for all that is to come. Amen.

Released on 4 Feb 2021