In Sunday’s
sermon, Pastor Bobby shared with us that we are called to view life with eternal eyes: eyes that comprehend not
just the nuances of the physical realm, but eyes that “see” what God has
revealed by His Holy Spirit. As Christians, our mandate is to live by faith. Second
Corinthians 5:7 is a short verse that many of us have memorized: “For we walk
by faith, not by sight.” Today, let’s consider a larger section of the passage,
so that we might benefit from the context in which this truth was given to us.
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in
is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not
built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our
heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 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, so that what is mortal
may be swallowed up by life. 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.
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in
the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are
confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with
the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the
body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgement seat of
Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in
the body, whether good or bad. (Second Corinthians 5:1-10)
Pastor
Bobby noted that our Christian journey is
not a fun walk: it is a walk for soldiers. How do soldiers walk? They walk
with purpose. They walk with the intent to carry out the orders they are given.
And, yes, they walk by faith, because their individual orders are only a small
part of a big plan. They don’t know the whole plan, but they are faithful in
carrying out their part of the plan. Some of us, today, are guilty of having
reneged on our responsibility to carry out our small part of God’s big plan.
Why? Because we have laid down our shield of faith; because we have told God we
won’t act until He tells us what everyone else is doing; because we have grown
weary of laboring in our corner of the kingdom vineyard.
If you
have laid down your shield of faith, if you have decided to delay obeying God
because you want more details of His plan, I would encourage you to get back
into the battle for souls. One day, we will be clothed with our heavenly
dwelling, and all will be well, and all will be made clear. Until we reach our
heaven-life, though, we are called to live our earth-life in a manner pleasing to
God, living and acting in obedient faith. “We
make it our goal to please him…” Amen. May Paul’s words be ours today.
Lord God, may everything I do be a confession of
my faith in You.
All
Scripture references are from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica,
Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
