Thought for December 18, 2024

•  1719: Thomas Fleet publishes "Mother Goose's Melodies for Children"
• 1892: "The Nutcracker Suite" premiers
• 1916: Battle of Verdun ends with 1 million casualties
• 1956: Israel's flag raised on Mount Sinai
• 1961: Wilma Rudolph named athlete of the year for the second time
• 2011: Last US troops leave Iraq
• 2019: House votes to impeach Donald Trump
• Born: Joseph Stalin, Ty Cobb, Willy Brandt, Ray Meyer [UT basketball], Betty Grable, Ossie Davis, Jacques Pepin, Keith Richards, Steven Spielberg, Ray Liotta, Brad Pitt, Christina Aguilera
• Died: Bobby Jones, Mark Goodson, Chris Farley, Joseph Barbera, Zsa Zsa Gabor

Thought:

Yesterday we read about how our outer man is decaying, but the inner man is being renewed. That we carry the treasure of Christ in earthen vessels that are subject to affliction, persecution, and even death. Today read with me 2 Corinthians 5:1-9. What Paul wrote in chapter 4 may be a little discouraging. Our earthly tent, our earthen vessel is under attack by the consequences of sin and the fall. So Paul wants to restore hope. 

What happens if our earthly tent gets torn down? [5:1]

• First see that it is a tent, a temporary dwelling for passing through this life on the way to the next. It has never been intended as our permanent home. For those in Christ, our permanent home is with Him in heaven. But for the moment we are aliens, strangers, traveling through a foreign land and living in a temporary shelter. That alone is great news. As we age, things hurt and break down in our bodies. Think about living eternity in this 78 year old body. But no, He has a new body and a new dwelling place--incorruptible, glorious, eternal.
• Second, think about the house He has prepared for us. Just remembering that Jesus went back to the Father to prepare a place for us makes that place special. 
• Third, we understand that now we are already groaning to gain that new body. The older I get, the more I yearn for that new body, that permanent home. Maybe God in His wisdom made us to find getting old not that much fun so that we would turn our attention to what He has prepared for us rather than becoming comfortable where we are.
• Fourth, we have the Holy Spirit as a pledge, a claim check. The Great Comforter, the guide, the intercessor lives in us to remind us of Christ's promises and of everything He said. 
• Fifth, since we have the Spirit as a pledge and assurance that what Jesus promised is real and awaiting us, we walk by faith and not by sight. [5:6-7] Think about that. We when walk by faith, circumstances do not scare us or disturb us for we see the end and know the future. When we walk by faith, Satan cannot distract us for our eyes are set on Jesus, the author and finisher of the faith.
• Sixth, we really prefer to escape the surly bonds of earth and be at home with Jesus. Reminds me of the poem "High Flight." "And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod the high and untrespassed sanctity of space, put out my hand, and touched the face of God." [5:8]
• Seventh, and maybe most important, our ambition is to be pleasing to Christ, whether at home or absent. [5:9] Maybe that is the goal for today and every day--be pleasing to Him.

Blessings

Larry