Verse Text: So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.
For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven - God-made, not handmade - and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move - and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less.
What is your favorite thing in this life? Why? What is your least favorite thing in life? Why? What if you found out you were losing these things? Would you be happy? Sad? Why? The point is to set the stage to describe that what God has in store for his people is both a hope in the midst of great sorrow and a joy that surpasses even our greatest delight.
There are times in our lives when things happen to wake us up to the painfulness of reality, to knife through our numbness and unplug us from our consumer culture. Sometimes our loved ones get sick or die. Sometimes tragedy strikes an innocent friend. Sometimes we’re extraordinarily convicted of our own dark sinfulness. Sometimes we are depressed and overwhelmed by the drudgery of relationships, work, school or life in general. In the face of such trial, we could collapse in despair or fear.
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But the Apostle Paul would have us look past the world’s temporary trials (and pleasures) to see clearly the meaning of its true nature. It is temporary, transient, fragile, shallow, and broken compared to the glorious world that God is preparing for His people. Rather than be consumed by this world, Paul saw it as a reminder of the greater joy of heaven’s glory. Here, we have a sense that something isn’t quite right. There, God will restore all that has gone wrong. He will reverse the pain of sin and death. He will make all things new. This present world is boring by comparison.
Picking cotton under the blazing hot sun in 1929, Albert Brumley started “dreaming of flying away from that cotton field” to something far better and wrote “I’ll Fly Away.” Like Paul, he knew only one place where “joy will never end,” where not even death can enter in—and this world wasn’t it. Brumley prompts us, like Paul, to face all of life – both its pleasures and brokenness – with the certain reminder that God is preparing to take us to a far better land. The greatest hardship or trial—even the grave itself—cannot keep us from reaching our glorious inheritance. Though this world may feel like a prison with “cold shackles” on our feet, the souls of believers will not rot in the grave. They will, when our mortal flesh collapses, fly like lightning to be united with our great God and King in “a land where joy will never end.”
How can we be so certain? Glory is God-made, not handmade. He does the work; He cleanses our souls; He makes it possible. This world is not our home; our home is with Christ. May we never settle for less.
Take some time to contemplate the mystery of eternity with Christ. Make a list of the five things you love most about your life. Glory is far better, far more exciting, far more fulfilling. Do you believe it could be true? If it is, how will what you do now change? Should even your list change? Make a list of the five things you hate most about your life. God is at work redeeming even these things. Do you believe it could be true? If it is, how will that hope change your present life?
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