2 Corinthians 5:1,4: Our secure dwelling is not here

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. … For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
2 Corinthians 5:1,4

Someone once said: “We have two great fears in life. Fear #1: Things may never get back to normal. Fear #2: This may be normal.”

When things aren’t going the way we would like, it is natural for us to ask, “What am I doing wrong?” We don’t want life to be difficult or unpredictable. We think that if we can just get things right, it won’t have to be.

What God is telling us in the passage above is that we will never experience complete stability in this life. We are living in a “tent.” Everything is temporary. Our secure dwelling is not here.

We should still give our best effort in everything we do. We should “fix” what we can. But that longing we have for stability and rest will not be satisfied in this life. Only when our earthly existence is “swallowed up by life” and we are in our eternal heavenly dwelling will all the burdens and groanings we now experience finally completely end. That’s when everything will finally be wonderfully “normal.”

For the Kingdom,

Ray King

The Doorpost devotions originally ran in the Samaritan Ministries Christian Health Care Newsletter.