“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.” (2 Corinthians 5:1-3)
My family tried camping in a tent exactly one time when I was a kid. It was a nice evening somewhere in Wisconsin. Until the storm rolled in. And the rain started pouring through the seams. And the thunder made it hard for us to hear dad saying, “Just go to sleep.”
The guy on the radio in the van—where we ended up spending the night—said it was the worst storm in Wisconsin in ten years. We sat shivering and watched tent after tent get blown over, uprooted, and go tumbling through the campground as the tornado warning sounded. We stayed in motels after that.
Paul said these fragile bodies we live in are like tents. Sometimes, it’s cold and lonely and painful inside. We groan through long nights. It’s not the life we were meant for. In heaven, though, we’ll live in glorified bodies. Built just for us. Like sleeping in a real bed in a real house with our Father in the very next room.
Think: Paul couldn’t wait to be in his “heavenly dwelling.” Are you looking forward to heaven? Why or why not?
Pray: Thank God for the reality of heaven and that this life isn’t the end of the story.
Do: To get the full weight of Paul’s metaphor, let’s all try sleeping in a tent for a month or two this winter. How long do you think it will take before we’re longing to sleep in our own beds inside a real house?