2 Corinthians 5:1-21 NLT
For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
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Here is your chance for a clean slate. Time for a reality check.
What are you living for? What is your goal? What is your purpose?
Why are you living, breathing, and getting up each day?
Paul recognises the wearisome need of a new body. And as each and every one of us age, suffer with sickness, battle brokenness or deformities we long for new bodies. And a new body you shall receive if you are in Christ. So what to do with this news, what is the proper response to being given a new body? It is to use the one we got in faith to proclaim our hope. We don't have to hold back, we don't have to be miserly with our energy. We've got a job to do and a promise to sustain us. So life is for living! We can swallow the weary pain of dying bodies by living up life as we live toward our new bodies. We can begin to erase the brokenness and sorrow of death, disease and destruction by living for life, by living for Christ.
We can choose to believe our future is secure and our purpose is clear. This will fill us with the life giving Spirit of God.
We can reject the shortsighted living for now earth perspective and choose to believe the life giving God's new home, new body point of view.
So your new goal is to please God. Live for Jesus.
Live to persuade others.
Who are you telling? Come on. Answer that question. Who have you told? How is your life persuading people to trust Jesus?
There is a clear task here in this passage.
Are you a secretary in an office? Well then you are the office ambassador for Jesus.
Are you a factory worker on an assembly line? Then you are the factories representative for Jesus.
What do you stand for?
You stand for life! You stand for the promises of God. You stand for judgement on sin. But you stand for grace, the gift of life, the promise of a new body, the purpose of God's glory, and the message of Jesus' glory.
Sounds like you've got your hands full, but it sounds like you've got all the resources you'll every need and instead of dying you are actually getting closer and closer to life. Real life is inching its way towards you and is taking over this dying life. A lasting and solid life is hurtling into your wearisome decent towards death and atom by atom replacing every bit of you with a new, improved living breathing, loving gracious representative of Life, the life giver and an eternal life.
