Putting focus on what lies ahead, and yet not knowing exactly what it is...that is part of our Christian message. Many religions outside the Christian train of thought offer a "step by step manual" as to why you are currently doing the things you do, and list the rewards for doing so.
In Christianity, it isn't quite clear as to what "Heaven" holds for us...but we do know it is completely fulfilling and so much more than our present life is able to give us.
I do not believe we will just be "floating around on clouds somewhere shooting "little arrows" at things or people", nor do I think we will just "be sitting or standing in a pew singing Songs of Praise day in and day out. I think Heaven is a whole lot more than that, it is a Kingdom...a monarchy, and will have an active and aggressive economy which includes careers, achievements, and recreational activities that are so much more than we presently have known.
In 1 Corinthians 13:12 it reads: " Right now, we don't see things clearly, it's like squinting in a fog or looking through a mirror that is clouded. When we get there, the first thing that will become clear to us...is Him! For we will see Him...face to face! Then, after that, it all becomes clear."
Trying to get a clearer image on things has been a curiosity in man for quite some time.
In older times, artists would do a thing they called: Perspectus. Basically it was "looking through a glass and tracing a clear image."
From this, we have been able to view eclipses and cameras themselves were invented from this particular technique. Leonardo daVinci once said: " There are some who look at things produced by nature...through glass or transparent veils. They trace the outlines on to a surface of the transparent medium..."
We have advanced a lot since earlier times....yet the Eternal Life that awaits each of as Christians...is still a mystery at best.
Here in 2 Corinthians Paul compares our present everyday lives to the Life we are going to...by referring to the present life as: "we are living in tents". That would make sense to me since Paul by trade was a ...tent maker. The other thing that stands out to me in regards to tents...there is a whole variety of tents! You have: pup tents, dome tents, square tents, party tents, marquis tents...or the Forest Gump rendition...tents on a stick, BBQ tents, tent soup (when it rains)...etc.
Here then is a Gleaning from 2 Corinthians 5:1-10...a message from our beloved St. Paul:
" For we know that when this "earthly tent" we live in now...is taken down ( in other words, when we die and leave our earthly bodies), the bodies we have been accustomed to living in...which is like living in "a tent"...will be replaced...by a real home!
God the Father Himself has created these "real homes" for us to live in, ...and each one has been custom made...to fit our personalities and make-up of which we were originally created. When we arrive in our "new homes"...the chaos of our everyday lives that we face now...will cease! This will include all the distractions and hardships we face while we are living in a tent...will be left there..in the tent.We will have no luggage to take with us or carry into the "real home" God has made for us.
Walking through the "front door" of our "new home" will be like putting on new clothing that you have long desired to wear...and now, you are putting on the new clothing for the very first time.
In the meantime, we are still living in...tents. Sometimes we grow weary living in these tents: we groan, we sigh, we mend, and we repair these tents. Now that is not to say anyone of us just want to die and get out of these tents, for there is a certain amount of comfort getting accustomed to living...even in a tent. Yet, we must remind ourselves...our real home awaits us...where there is no more mending, no more repairing...and our new homes...last through eternity!
It is God who has made it this way. The fact of the matter is He has deposited "a little heaven...His very Kingdom" into our own hearts...while we are still...living in tents. The Messiah went to "ends of the earth" to make sure none of us are captured or tricked to follow any other plan...but His...and to keep our focus on the "prize"...the "Homecoming!"
That is why we have confidence in life even now...that is why we have courage in life, forged through our trust in Him, and that is why we can be cheerful in life...for He has made a way for us.
These tents may get a little cramped at times...and we may face a "tear" here or there...but we can't let this kind of thing get us down. These present conditions we may be facing: whether we have an old tent, a ripped tent, some of our poles may be dented or bent, or our stakes have been pulled at one time or another, don't let these things get to you.
We live by...faith!...not by what our tents look like. This is what keeps us trusting in the One we have yet to see!
So, whether we are living in a tent at the moment, or you may have come "home"...we all have the same calling: to please Him, and to give all the credit and the glory to the One who...chose to leave His "real home", and become like us...living in a...tent.
For the day will come, when we will stand before Him, and He will go over the lifestyles we chose to live...in the days when we..."were living in a tent."
In Christianity, it isn't quite clear as to what "Heaven" holds for us...but we do know it is completely fulfilling and so much more than our present life is able to give us.I do not believe we will just be "floating around on clouds somewhere shooting "little arrows" at things or people", nor do I think we will just "be sitting or standing in a pew singing Songs of Praise day in and day out. I think Heaven is a whole lot more than that, it is a Kingdom...a monarchy, and will have an active and aggressive economy which includes careers, achievements, and recreational activities that are so much more than we presently have known.
In 1 Corinthians 13:12 it reads: " Right now, we don't see things clearly, it's like squinting in a fog or looking through a mirror that is clouded. When we get there, the first thing that will become clear to us...is Him! For we will see Him...face to face! Then, after that, it all becomes clear."
Trying to get a clearer image on things has been a curiosity in man for quite some time.
In older times, artists would do a thing they called: Perspectus. Basically it was "looking through a glass and tracing a clear image."
From this, we have been able to view eclipses and cameras themselves were invented from this particular technique. Leonardo daVinci once said: " There are some who look at things produced by nature...through glass or transparent veils. They trace the outlines on to a surface of the transparent medium..."
We have advanced a lot since earlier times....yet the Eternal Life that awaits each of as Christians...is still a mystery at best.
Here then is a Gleaning from 2 Corinthians 5:1-10...a message from our beloved St. Paul:
" For we know that when this "earthly tent" we live in now...is taken down ( in other words, when we die and leave our earthly bodies), the bodies we have been accustomed to living in...which is like living in "a tent"...will be replaced...by a real home!
God the Father Himself has created these "real homes" for us to live in, ...and each one has been custom made...to fit our personalities and make-up of which we were originally created. When we arrive in our "new homes"...the chaos of our everyday lives that we face now...will cease! This will include all the distractions and hardships we face while we are living in a tent...will be left there..in the tent.We will have no luggage to take with us or carry into the "real home" God has made for us.
Walking through the "front door" of our "new home" will be like putting on new clothing that you have long desired to wear...and now, you are putting on the new clothing for the very first time.
In the meantime, we are still living in...tents. Sometimes we grow weary living in these tents: we groan, we sigh, we mend, and we repair these tents. Now that is not to say anyone of us just want to die and get out of these tents, for there is a certain amount of comfort getting accustomed to living...even in a tent. Yet, we must remind ourselves...our real home awaits us...where there is no more mending, no more repairing...and our new homes...last through eternity!
It is God who has made it this way. The fact of the matter is He has deposited "a little heaven...His very Kingdom" into our own hearts...while we are still...living in tents. The Messiah went to "ends of the earth" to make sure none of us are captured or tricked to follow any other plan...but His...and to keep our focus on the "prize"...the "Homecoming!"
That is why we have confidence in life even now...that is why we have courage in life, forged through our trust in Him, and that is why we can be cheerful in life...for He has made a way for us.
These tents may get a little cramped at times...and we may face a "tear" here or there...but we can't let this kind of thing get us down. These present conditions we may be facing: whether we have an old tent, a ripped tent, some of our poles may be dented or bent, or our stakes have been pulled at one time or another, don't let these things get to you.
We live by...faith!...not by what our tents look like. This is what keeps us trusting in the One we have yet to see!
So, whether we are living in a tent at the moment, or you may have come "home"...we all have the same calling: to please Him, and to give all the credit and the glory to the One who...chose to leave His "real home", and become like us...living in a...tent.For the day will come, when we will stand before Him, and He will go over the lifestyles we chose to live...in the days when we..."were living in a tent."
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