Being assured that believers in Christ would receive a new
body and live eternally with Him, Paul adopted new perspectives in life. The phrase
“…absent from the Lord” in verse 6 should not be mistaken as if the Lord was
absent in Paul’s existence while he was physically living. He was actually borrowing
a concept that was prevalent with the people in his day. They thought of death as
living with great ones of the past like Socrates. For Christians, the Lord
Jesus had promised to be with us always. So for Paul whether alive in this body
or alive in the new body, he was in fellowship with the Lord. He was talking
about the Heavenly presence of the Lord. While in his earthly existence, the
fellowship of the Lord would not be as complete as it would be in eternity.
Paul knew that he was still functioning in the earthly body.
While functioning in this body, he remained courageous and confident. Why? He
lived by faith and not by sight. He saw not just the present, he saw the future
as well. Like Paul, seeing the future will also help us shape the way we live
in the present. One may encounter difficulties in this present life but when viewed
with eternity in perspective, the difficulties will all just pale in
significance. Like Paul, the difficulties encountered in life should not discourage
us.
Paul’s preference was to be with the Lord in eternity, free
from all the present encumbrances. But he would not allow that desire to be an excuse
to cop out from living for the Lord on earth. In whatever environment, whether
in heaven or on earth now, his goal was to please the Lord. This was the same
goal that motivated him in service. Paul said that all would ultimately appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. This would not be a judgment for sins but
for the services rendered in their earthly bodies. Our judgment will be based
on our fruit in life and not just our root in Christ, because our fruit is
determined by our root.
We should not be sitting around waiting for that climatic rapture.
The Lord expects us to be actively engaged in Christian service to lost
humanity. We must serve people as Jesus did. We must touch both Christians and
non-Christians with the love of God. We need to invest our lives into that of
others. We know that our dwelling in this present “house” won’t be forever. The
Lord’s words to us is still this: Work while it is yet day, for the night will
come when no man can work.
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