II Corinthians 5:1-10

“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven ...” (1). More than modern people, the Corinthians saw death around them daily. Paul reassured them that their longings for their “heavenly tent” would one day be satisfied, when “what is mortal is swallowed up by life” (4). Our earthly lives matter, but something better is coming.

“Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come” (5). The resurrection-life already at work in us through the Spirit will be complete when we are “with the Lord” (8).