-August 23, 2023-
Good morning, happy Wednesday,
“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
(2 Corinthians 5:1).
There is a great contrast between a tent and a building. A tent is defined as, “a portable shelter made of cloth, supported by one or more poles and stretched tight by cords or loops attached to pegs driven into the ground.” A building, on the other hand, is, “a structure with roof and walls, such as a house, school, or factory.” A tent is a temporary dwelling place, whereas a house is a permanent one. Given a choice, everyone would choose a house over a tent.
Paul uses his knowledge of tent making to illustrate our earthly bodies which are subject to disease, decay, and destruction. We suffer pain. These bodies, like tents, are temporary. One day we will be clothed with new spiritual bodies in which we will live with the Lord in heaven forever. Peter also spoke of this same subject in 2 Peter 1:13-14, “Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.”
All of us will one day put off this tent either at death or at the Rapture whichever comes first. How relieved we will be! 1 Corinthians 15:43-44 says of our body, “It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” Paul adds in 1 Corinthians 15:53, “For this corruptible must put on in incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.”
When Jesus rose from the dead He had a new body. He could pass through walls and disappear and reappear. He said in Luke 24:39, “Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” He ate broiled fish and honeycomb with His disciples.
Our outward man is perishing but our inward man is is being renewed day by day. These tents will one day be taken down and folded up; our soul and spirit will take residence in a new body, in a new place. Let us rejoice that the best is yet to come. Have a blessed day. Stay safe and healthy.
Desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,
Dean
Dean Allen's Daily Devotional 