“For we know that if our earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling in the heavens, not made with hands. Indeed, we groan in this tent, desiring to put on our heavenly dwelling, since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-5 – CSB – Read the chapter)
This life doesn’t last forever. That is one of those truths about which everyone is supremely confident. There’s a reason we have the saying that the only two sure things in life are death and taxes. Now, yes, there are some folks who are theorizing about things like transhumanism and the notion that we can somehow achieve immortality, but even they will wind up facing the veil at some point. These efforts toward immortality remind us that the sheer finitude of life really does bother us. It bothers us because something deep in our bones screams that this is not how things are supposed to be. Well, what we know as followers of Jesus is that this sense is right. It is right because we were made in the image of a God who is eternal. And when we accept by faith that the things Jesus said about this world and the next are true, the fear and loathing death often brings all but vanish. I recently said goodbye to my friend Joyce. She knew all of this very well. As a result, her transition from this life to the start of the next was different from most. Let me tell you about it.
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