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 2 Corinthians 5:1
Heavenly Father,
Yesterday we prayed about finding hope in the losses of aging
by keeping an eternal perspective.
Today we acknowledge the reality
that despite what our culture tries to tell us,
our bodies are aging,
every day,
all the time.
Again, the apostle Paul helps us
by naming the reality of physical deterioration,
calling our bodies “tents.”
As a tentmaker, Paul knew well the frailty of tents.
They were made by human hands,
to be raised and lowered easily.
They were subject to the terrors of storms
and could not stand in the face of them.
Such is the nature of our human body.
It is vulnerable. It is wasting away.
And yet, Paul claims, there is reason for hope:
“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” (2 Cor. 5:1).
One day we will receive our resurrection bodies,
healed and whole.
Immediately after death,
we will “be away from the body
and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8),
that is, separated from our earthly body.
But when Jesus returns, “we shall all be changed.
For this perishable body will put on the imperishable,
and this mortal body will put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53).
In that day, we will no longer groan
with the aches and pains
of a breaking body.
In that day, we will no longer groan
with the deeper sorrow
of losing family and friends to death.
In that day, we will see our hope fulfilled,
the hope of living with you
and worshiping you forever.
How we long for that day.
Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Read 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58.
*This prayer, like yesterday’s, was based on my article, An Eternal Perspective on the Losses of Aging.
Elizabeth Reynolds Turnage is the author of Preparing for Glory: Biblical Answers to 40 Questions on Living and Dying in Hope of Heaven.
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