August 29, 2019

Bible Reading: II Corinthians 5

6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

Most of us are familiar with this passage. While we are in this earthly body, we cannot be present with the Lord. This old flesh is holding us here right now. But the moment we become separated from this body by death, our soul becomes present with the Lord. In a sense, we don’t want to die, and we don’t want to live.

Since we cannot be with the Lord right now, we must “walk by faith and not by sight”. I can’t see Him right now, but I know He is there.

Verse nine, however, simply tells us that whether we are in the body or in heaven, there is one thing that we want to accomplish. We want to “be accepted of Him”. What does this mean? Do we have to labor harder for God to finally accept us? Do we need accomplish more, or perform better to be accepted by God? The answer is no.

Here in verse 9, the word “accepted” means fully agreeable, or well pleasing. It means that as we labor while we’re here on earth, our main goal should be to be well pleasing to God. Our desire should be for our walk to be agreeable with His Word.

We know where we’re going, but until then we are here where we are at. While we are here, we must walk by faith not by sight. As we walk by faith, our desire should be to please God. We are “confident” about why we are here, and we are confident about where we are going when we leave here. We might be “at home in the body”, but we are not home!