“Therefore, whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to be pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may be repaid for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (CSB- Read the chapter)
At the end of the last post I started talking about what we do in light of the fact that we have this assurance of life after death as followers of Jesus. Paul goes there next too.
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“So we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Last time we looked at this thing Paul said about being away from the body and at home with the Lord being preferable to remaining here. It’s the kind of statement that naturally draws some attention to itself. What’s it mean?
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“Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
We’ve been talking for a few days about Paul’s thoughts on life after death now. We’ve talked in particular about this sense of eternality that dwells in the hearts of people. We’ve also talked about the fact that we only gain any substance for this otherwise empty hope in Christ. Apart from Him, we don’t have anything to go on but wishful thinking that plays itself out in a variety of mostly ultimately harmful ways. In Christ, though, things get very much more solid. The reason for this is the Spirit.
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“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.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
On Sunday mornings right now I am taking the congregation I am privileged to pastor through the book of Ecclesiastes. We’re not hitting every verse by any means, but rather some key highlights, as we wrestle with the question of how we can find meaning for our lives that isn’t going to run out on us when the wind starts blowing in a new direction. What does this have to do with what Paul writes here? Well…everything.
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“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” (ESV – Read the chapter)
What happens when we die? There aren’t many questions that people both don’t want to ask out loud, but about which they are less curious than that one. There are many, many stories about folks who have died, experienced something, and then come back to life vividly remembering what they saw. These can be encouraging, confusing, and just plain wild, but they don’t give us a very firm foundation. What can we actually say with confidence?
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The Nexus 