Daily Devotions – Even More Clothing

Daily Devotions – Even More Clothing

 

 

Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:

2 Corinthians 5:1-9 (NIV)

Awaiting the New Body

For 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 instead 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 instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who 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. For 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.

In this life we will never be fully clothed. Sin will always be lurking around the next corner trying to lure us away from God and burdening us with pain and suffering.  But Paul says that our final clothing will only come when our mortal dwelling is “swallowed up by life”. He is talking about our death! What are you burdened with that needs to die? Being in control? Shame and guilt? A mistake that you made that keeps causing problems? Physical illness? Depression? Being hurt or abandoned by someone else? Uncertainty and anxiety? Those burdens may never leave us until we are clothed with eternal life. But we please God when, despite those things, we live by faith seeking His love and trusting in His promises.