December 4, 2022 ALWAYS OF GOOD COURAGE
2 Corinthians 5:5-9 “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, always being of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-for we walk by faith, not by sight-we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
As I read this passage, the words “always of good courage” caught my attention. The obvious question is how can anyone in this world of strife, discord, chaos, sickness and trials always be of good courage? When things are going great and the sun is shining in our life, we can be of good courage. However, when Paul penned this words, he and many of the believers of that day were experiencing great trials and tribulations. So, why could Paul and other believers of that day be of good courage always? The issue revolves around how we perceive life on this earth. A common viewpoint is that we get one chance at this thing called life, so we must go about doing whatever we need to do to make this life as enjoyable and problem free as possible. Paul understood an acted on an awesome truth that enabled him to always be of good courage; Paul knew that as long as he was in his physical body, he was absent from the Lord. (Now, we have the Spirit of God living in us, but we are not yet with Him in heaven.) When you look at it this way, who would not want to be with the Lord in heaven. We cannot prove that we will be with Lord in heaven one day; it is a matter of living with that belief by faith, and not by sight. Paul knew without any doubt that his physical death would be the door way to being with the Lord. Do not misunderstand; while on this earth, God has things for us to be about, but we do what we do knowing that one day we will be with the Lord. It is also true that it is sad when a loved one passes away, but we are sad because we will miss them; if they know the Lord, they will have no sadness. The astounding thing is that Paul preferred to be absent from the body so that he could be with the Lord. I think that if we align our thoughts and understanding with the fact that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, then we will always of good courage. Let is not forget that while we live in our temporary physical bodies, we are to be about what God has for us here, and as the temple of the Holy Spirit, we should take care of our physical bodies. And, because we will one day be with the Lord, and because we will on day give an account of the deeds we do in this body, we should have as our greatest desire to do the things that are pleasing to Him.
1 Philippians 1:23-24 “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. And convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you for all your progress and joy in the faith.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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