Endurance for the Journey, Featured

For while we are in this tent,
we groan and are burdened,
because we do not wish to be unclothed
but to be clothed instead
with our heavenly dwelling,
so that what is mortal
may be swallowed up by life.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:4 (NIV)

Just before he died, the apostle Peter wrote to some friends to remind them of the lessons they had learned under his tutelage. He said, “I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me” (2 Peter 1:13-14).

There is something refreshing about his perspective. Yes, a tent is temporary, but maybe that’s not so bad. If Peter can talk so casually about “putting it aside,” you might suspect that he’s looking forward to some other arrangements. It sounds less like he’s giving up a home than he is trading in a rental. Which according to his friend Paul, was exactly what he was doing. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:1:

Now we know that if the earthly tent
we live in is destroyed,
we have a building from God,
an eternal house in heaven,
not built by human hands.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:1 (NIV)

On the journey with you,
Dave Dravecky