180616 01 – 2 Corinthians 5:1
2 Corinthians 5:1
For we know that if the earthly tent
which is our house is torn down,
we have a building from God,
a house not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens.
Devotional
Romans 6:16-23
¹⁶Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
¹⁷But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
¹⁸and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
¹⁹I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
²⁰For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
²¹Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
²²But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
²³For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The righteous has hope in his death.
Susannah Wesley, mother of John Wesley, lay on her deathbed. With most of her many children gathered around her, she said, “Children, as soon as I am released, sing a psalm of praise.”
These were her last words.
Her words expressed what each Christian should be able to say in his last hour. Death alone makes possible our hope of a free life in the eternal presence of God.
Only a Christian can welcome death with such words.
Those who know the beauty and the power of communion with the Divine in this life can eagerly embrace the prospect of a perfect communion with the Divine in eternity.
Though a mystery, death is not evil. Though puzzling, it is not to be feared. It is the means for the home-going of the soul.
The grave can never swallow the soul.
It can win no victory over him who sees this present life in the light of eternity and therefore lives it with a passion for God and His Kingdom.
Prayer suggestions
▪︎ Ask God to help you to live today for Him alone.
▪︎ Ask God to help you to feel the eternity in you.
Twitter: @SchoemakerHarry
Website 1: https://devotionals.harryschoemaker.nl
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