Paul is a person who certainly has some colourful ways of expressing things that happen to us in this life.  One of the ways he expresses our present situation is to remind us of the earthly tent in which we live.  What an image. If you ever went camping in a tent, you would know how important it was to keep that old canvas tent waterproofed and to keep the outer fly on that newer nylon tent to prevent rain or dew from penetrating to where you were trying to stay dry and warm.  Of course there were no doubt plenty of mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects that also were looking for a warm dry place complete with a ready food supply.

In the time of Paul, many people still lived in tents.  Those tents not only protected the people from rain but also kept strong winds, sandstorms and intense heat from wreaking havoc with their physical bodies.  Paul used the image of the tent as a way of reminding the people of the presence of God with them in this life.  But as we strive to live this life in faith – in this tent of flesh and bone – we are ever conscious of the fragile nature of this vessel. We are also conscious   in our heart, mind and spirit of a reality beyond this dimension.

Paul speaks of a new body, a resurrected body, a body that cannot suffer pain or corruption.  He looks forward to that body and believes that this is what every believer is destined for.  But he is painfully aware through his own physical weaknesses that he still lives in a body that can suffer pain, disease and even death.  He knows that the perfection of all things has not yet happened but he is concerned that while we live in this tent, this body of flesh and bone, subject to disease and illness, we not lose sight of the future God has planned for us.   Using his imagery, the last thing Paul would want for any of us would be to give up hope in the promise of God through Christ.  Jesus’ promise that he had gone to prepare a place for each of us and that he will come and take us to where he is, that is for Paul his greatest hope.  His concern is that our struggles in this life may cause us to lose hope for that future and so not persevere in faith until that day when this present flesh shall find itself clothed anew with a body that no disease or illness or affliction can touch.

And because we are in this world and are not able to see that new world that Paul has seen in his visions, we are not truly home.  We are away, so to speak, because we are spiritually with the Lord but not physically with the Lord.  As close as God is with us in this life, Paul still knows that there is a veil that separates us.  It may be as thin as gossamer but to us it is as thick as the thickest fog.  All our attempts to penetrate that veil or to see through that fog are in vain if we are trying to see that reality with our physical sight.  Paul knows that we need the sight of faith to be able to see anything beyond the veil.

We are encouraged by Paul to be confident of the promises of God that one day we will be clothed with a body that nothing can destroy. We are encouraged to be confident that we will be at home with God. And so it is our aim to do what is pleasing to God in this life as we look forward in faith to the fullness of life in the kingdom.

And while Paul ever seeks for the mercy and forgiveness of God for all of his sins, he is ever conscious of the fact that he will need to face God’s judgment for what he has done in this body, whether good or evil.  Before he received his new name, Paul was known as Saul and he persecuted believers delivering them to prison and death.  He acted as judge over them and decided their fate in this world.  Paul knows that he will have to answer to God for that as well as other things in his life for which he probably felt regret.  Even Paul didn’t get it all right all the time.

New life in Christ does not wipe away the memory of the old life but it does energize us to look at this life in a new way with new eyes and hopefully a new mind and a new heart.  As the Psalmist said: “Create in me a clean heart, o gOD 51:10) spirit within me"ut a right spirit within me."rgize us to look at this life in a new way with new eyes and hopefu O God, and put a new and right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

As we wear this body and we see it with our eyes and experience it with our minds and hearts, Paul encourages us to look forward to wearing that new body, one that we can only see with the eyes of faith and experience with a renewed mind and heart.  And so while still in this body, we can envision our future with God.  But to gain that new body, to fully experience that new heart and mind, we need to wear the faith that we have been given through the granting of the Holy Spirit of God. We need to speak the words, listen in love, look with compassion and act with kindness.  We need to let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be the mind that leads us through this life.

Until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will live this life of flesh and bone. We will succumb to illness, disease and let go of this life; but if we seek the Spirit to be able to walk this life with the eyes of faith and if we have the confidence to believe that we will be with the Lord, then we will have the courage to live this life and face each day knowing that nothing in all creation can ever separate us from the love of God revealed to us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen