2 Corinthians 5: 1 - 6 NKJV
I have the fortune of living in an area of the country which seems to be populated with more than it's share of homeless people. Granted these are not the streets of New York or San Francisco, but we have more than our share of the homeless population. Of course, along with this comes more than our share of crime and bad behavior. Recently, two men died and while another was seriously injured as a homeless man well known to law enforcement took a knife to these men after he verbally abused two young women. If that were not enough, as one of the victims of these murders lay dying, another homeless man knelt by his side and walked away with the mans backpack and wedding ring! Now, I have my own feelings on the homeless issue, and they usually don't fall in line with that of our city leaders. So it is that almost anywhere you travel in my town you'll come across a homeless tent. Granted I've never been in that situation, but I can say that without a doubt that if I was I would be doing ANYTHING possible to get myself out of it. That's just me. Others may have their own view of giving up all hope and motivation and relying on the charity of others for their very survivial. I can only imagine if our earliest settlers had this mindset. I struggled for a bit to find a way to tie in my thoughts into this post, so bear with me. We see that in 2 Corinthians 5 that the apostle Paul refers to our earthly home as a tent. Of course, we may need to take into consideration the time frame that Paul wrote this, as tents were used widely for dwellings. For our purposes, we can claim that our earthly home, these houses we live in are not only temporary, but that our heavenly Father indeed has a more glorious dwelling reserved for us in His eternity. Even if you're homeless.
24“God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25“Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.
Acts 17: 24 - 25 NKJV
When we talk of things here in this temporary life which we live, I believe that the apostle Paul was very correct in proclaiming them all garbage {Philippians 3:7}. Yes, we require certain things in order to live and survive in this temporary world, but God knows exactly what we need. What is your trash bag holding? A nice BMW, a fancy home? Whatever it may be, it is certain that we WILL NOT be taking these possesions with us when our time on earth is at a end. Indeed, all that Paul had gained in his rise to Pharisee stardom he counted as garbage. See, Saul had it all, prominence, authority and importance among his Jewish peers. All garbage. Paul saw what was truly important, a life in Christ Jesus. Now, does that mean that merely having possesions is a bad thing? Not at all, but how much importance do we place upon these temporary things? Does Jesus take first place in your life, or does that bag of garbage occupy your every thought? Believe me, whatever we have accumulated in this life will definately pale in comparison to what our heavenly Father has in store for us in our new home.
4 7But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
Philippians 3: 7 NKJV
~Scott~
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