Work is really hard right now.
- There is some really difficult planning going on.
- I am writing two 40+ page documents that need to be reviewed by the Government next week. [on top of that, what I have to write is currently a contentious set of issues <sigh>]
- I have to create a PowerPoint slide deck to present plans for the next 10 months to both the Microsoft program and Government leadership teams the week after next.
If you think of me, pray for wisdom, patience, and sharpness of mind as I navigate these waters in my job.
2 Here indeed, in this [present abode, body], we sigh and groan inwardly, because we yearn to be clothed over [we yearn to put on our celestial body like a garment, to be fitted out] with our heavenly dwelling, 3 So that by putting it on we may not be found naked (without a body). 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan under the burden and sigh deeply (weighed down, depressed, oppressed)—not that we want to put off the body (the clothing of the spirit), but rather that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal (our dying body) may be swallowed up by life [after the resurrection]. 5 Now He Who has fashioned us [preparing and making us fit] for this very thing is God, Who also has given us the [Holy] Spirit as a guarantee [of the fulfillment of His promise]. 2 Corinthians 5:2-5 [AMP]
So, yesterday I stopped on verse 1 of Chapter 5 because it pretty much sets up these next 4 verses (really the next 9 verses). If we get our brains wrapped around the point that we are in failing bodies here on earth and get ‘Heavenly Bodies’ when this one deteriorates away, then the rest gets a little easier to talk through.
Here in verse 2 Paul is talking about how when he thinks of the body that awaits him in heaven, he essentially grumbles and yearns after this new body; to the extent that he talks about wishing he put that body on like clothes. The nakedness which Paul expects to avoid when he puts on the heavenly body is the nakedness of a disembodied soul. Paul, as a Jew, would regard existence as a disembodied soul as something to be avoided. The promised heavenly body will save him from that.
The last 2 verses here are super encouraging! Paul does not so much sigh with anxiety, as groan because he is weighed down by afflictions experienced in his body. Although the Paul groans, being burdened by sufferings and persecutions which afflict the body, he does not seek escape into a permanent disembodied state. He longs for a new and better embodiment. What he wants is described with the use of two metaphors. First, the metaphor of putting on extra clothing to cover that already being worn (we would be further clothed). Second, the metaphor of one thing being devoured by another so that the one ceases to exist as it was but is taken into and transformed in the other (what is mortal may be swallowed up by life). He then explains that all of this transition and process of living in one body here on earth and then being transformed into the new body in heaven, is all God. Not only that, but it is also through sanctification that God prepares us for that new life in the Heavenly body. If that were not enough, God has given us the Holy Spirit Who is IN us, consistently prodding us and giving us the knowledge we need to know, to further our faith and sanctification to ENSURE that transition to our Heavenly bodies.
Application:
Its ok to acknowledge this body that has been impacted by age due to the fall of man through sin. Sin has caused us to endure a life of progressively worsening bodies until the Lord takes us home. Some of us will suffer more than others but the real focus is to lean into the Promise of a Heavenly body by keeping voice of the Holy Spirit clear. I do this by continually confessing my sin and adhering to the instruction of the Holy Spirit as I learn more and more what it means to be a follower of God’s Son.