"So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." 2 Corinthians 5:6-10
Paul is writing to the Corinthian assembly explaining what it means to walk by faith. He explains that while we are at home in our earthly bodies we are absent from the Lord who is in Heaven. God is not here with us in the physical form that we can see Him. No, we are living a life of faith, not a blind faith because there is evidence that He exists and we know from past experiences that God is real. However, it is still faith because God is not here with us in the flesh, we cannot physically see God. There is some faith involved in believing that God exists because we have never physically seen Him. The reason Paul says we live by faith and not by sight is because if we lived by sight then we would become very quickly discouraged as we not only don't see God, but we don't always see how He is at work in us. Because we live by faith it does not matter whether or not we see the results of our work we continue with good courage because we a doing it solely to please God and for His glory alone.
Paul also says that he would rather be at home with the Lord and away from his body. However, whether we are in our bodies or with the Lord we still have the common purpose to please God. We live with a desire to be with the Lord but remain on earth as long as He has us be here to further His kingdom and complete His will until He calls us home. For one day we will all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and receive what is due for everything we have done while in our bodies. This includes both good and evil. As Christians we have been forgiven of our sins and therefor they will not be brought up at judgment but we will be held accountable for what we did with our bodies and with what God had given us and we will be rewarded accordingly.
Live by faith
Further God's Kingdom
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I've been thinking about faith a lot, and how Jerry Sr. had so much faith he was confident that God would provide a crazy amount of money to build Liberty. If I get a true wholesome faith in God, I know my life will be radically different.
ReplyDeleteIn what way's can we practice this faith? What steps do you think you could take to begin to develop such a faith?
ReplyDeleteThis morning's convo also got me thinking about walking by faith. This is definitely something that I need to work on.
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