Extreme Home Makeover is a popular television show about a deserving family getting a new home. In most cases, the home the needy family lives in is in horrific condition - foundation crumbling, roof caving in, major plumbing and/or electrical problems. The dilapidated home is leveled and replaced with a stunning new structure, especially suited to their needs.
Similarly, I've got a home in need of an extreme makeover. I won't go into all the details as to what is wrong, but time is taking a toll. In fact, if something isn't done, it will eventually suffer a similar fate as the old homes on the popular television program.
"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life." (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)
The house is really a tent, and its descriptive of our declining mortal bodies. Anyone over forty can especially relate to the groaning that goes on in this old house in its process of decay. But thankfully there's more in focus here - "if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Believers have a building from God, and we're not talking about any old house. This house is one built by a divine carpenter, and safely kept in a heavenly storeroom. And all the houses are there, ready to be distributed to all the occupants at the same time. All the closing papers will be simultaneously signed, faster than you can blink an eye. But that closing hasn't happened yet; it's scheduled for a day called resurrection day, and no one understood the priority and details of that resurrection day better than the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 15).
According to Paul, there is a fate worse than living in a decaying old home - homelessness. Actually, Paul has switched illustrations here from housing to clothing, and indicates that nakedness is worse than being clothed in our mortal bodies. He's not referring to a disembodied existence (an impossibility), but rather the ultimate nakedness - not having an immortal resurrection body. To be naked, then, is to be lost and doomed to destruction.
So, what's the point to all this talk about housing and clothing? Simply the fact that what we now have is temporary, and it's inevitably going to decay and wear out. Exercise and anti-aging cosmetics and treatments might temporarily slow it a bit, but ultimately an extreme makeover is needed. And one is coming; possibly in the not-too-distant future. Meanwhile, though, creaks and groans characterize life in this old house.
If declining physical condition is the only reality, we have plenty to be miserable about as we age. But, praise God, the true reality is an existence we can scarcely imagine now. Through faith's eye (2 Corinthians 5:7), we see tomorrow's reality today, and begin to live in it.
May you abundantly experience inner renewal today amidst the reality of mortal existence.
Steve
© 2010, Steve Taylor
Similarly, I've got a home in need of an extreme makeover. I won't go into all the details as to what is wrong, but time is taking a toll. In fact, if something isn't done, it will eventually suffer a similar fate as the old homes on the popular television program.
"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life." (2 Corinthians 5:1-4)
The house is really a tent, and its descriptive of our declining mortal bodies. Anyone over forty can especially relate to the groaning that goes on in this old house in its process of decay. But thankfully there's more in focus here - "if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Believers have a building from God, and we're not talking about any old house. This house is one built by a divine carpenter, and safely kept in a heavenly storeroom. And all the houses are there, ready to be distributed to all the occupants at the same time. All the closing papers will be simultaneously signed, faster than you can blink an eye. But that closing hasn't happened yet; it's scheduled for a day called resurrection day, and no one understood the priority and details of that resurrection day better than the apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 15).
According to Paul, there is a fate worse than living in a decaying old home - homelessness. Actually, Paul has switched illustrations here from housing to clothing, and indicates that nakedness is worse than being clothed in our mortal bodies. He's not referring to a disembodied existence (an impossibility), but rather the ultimate nakedness - not having an immortal resurrection body. To be naked, then, is to be lost and doomed to destruction.
So, what's the point to all this talk about housing and clothing? Simply the fact that what we now have is temporary, and it's inevitably going to decay and wear out. Exercise and anti-aging cosmetics and treatments might temporarily slow it a bit, but ultimately an extreme makeover is needed. And one is coming; possibly in the not-too-distant future. Meanwhile, though, creaks and groans characterize life in this old house.
If declining physical condition is the only reality, we have plenty to be miserable about as we age. But, praise God, the true reality is an existence we can scarcely imagine now. Through faith's eye (2 Corinthians 5:7), we see tomorrow's reality today, and begin to live in it.
May you abundantly experience inner renewal today amidst the reality of mortal existence.
Steve
© 2010, Steve Taylor
posted by steve @ 9:04 PM
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