At Home With The Lord

For 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 instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 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.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:1-8

Just when most people rocketing into space think the weight of gravity will kill them and they cannot breathe, the rocketship bursts into weightlessness, and people laugh at how it feels. We have the strength to breathe.

On the Friday we call “good,” something similar happened to Jesus. God placed on Him the weight of the entire world’s sin – past, present, and future – until Jesus could no longer breathe. Then Jesus said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” After being suffocated by our sin, Jesus received back from God the life entrusted to Him and now lives where sin and death have no power. All who trust Christ will one day join Him, and we should wonder whether we will look back at this life, and laugh.

The sacrifice of Jesus points us to the joy of heaven.

Our Daily Bread – April 3, 2015