鈥淭he mortal will be swallowed up in ________鈥�.聽
Most people think that death is the word that completes that sentence.聽However, in 2 Corinthians 5:4, the apostle Paul says that the mortal will be swallowed up by 鈥渓ife.鈥澛燭hat seems like an odd word choice, but the point is that death is not the end.聽Rather, death is the beginning of our real and best life.
To illustrate, Paul says, 鈥淲e know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal home, not built by hands鈥� (2 Corinthians 5:1).聽For anyone who has ever gone tenting, this comparison makes sense.
I love tenting. I think that is great that you can take your entire sleeping quarters and roll them up into a tiny ball.聽Tenting is really fun 鈥� for about three days.聽After that, sleeping on the ground does not seem fun anymore. Walking a block or more to get water or to go to the washroom becomes inconvenient.聽
A tent makes you feel like you are outside in the elements even when you are inside, so you notice the wind and the cold a lot more.聽In the end, it is nice to go home to a solid structure that has running water, soft beds and heat. Tenting is OK, but is not as good as your real home.
Similarly, Paul is not saying that this life is meaningless or bad.聽In fact, there are many good things to be enjoyed here. It鈥檚 just that this life is not all that there is and it is not even the best life that we will experience.聽
We make a huge mistake when we say, 鈥淟ive your best life鈥� as if being self-indulgent here is going to make us happy.聽It never does, because temporary things cannot provide permanent happiness.聽We were created to live for something much bigger and better than ourselves.
Therefore, our focus is not to be on the tent that we see, but rather on heaven and the much better home that we do not yet see.聽That new home will not be a temporary, wind-blown and cold tent-like structure, but rather a permanent, solid, wonderful place built by God.聽Understanding that one truth changes how we approach everything else.
聽鈥淲e walk by faith, not sight鈥� (2 Corinthians 5:7).
