We Walk By Faith

We Walk By Faith

WE WALK BY FAITH

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8

In the verse before, Paul affirms that “we walk by faith, not by sight.” This is certainly true when we speak of life after death.

“What happens when we die?” is perhaps the biggest and most important question that humans face, and yet we have no way of finding out the answer for ourselves until the time of death comes. Every one of us, regardless of our religion or worldview, has to answer that question by faith. We all live by faith in some unproven idea of the afterlife.

But, Paul reminds us in the very next verse, this does not mean that we cannot be confident as Christians. We can look confidently forward to a definite and specific reality when we die — to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

There is no purgatory or in-between world. At the instant of our death we will be ushered into the presence of the Lord.

This is encouraging and heartening, but it is also sobering. On the one hand, death is little more than a doorway into God’s presence. If we are trusting in Jesus Christ for our salvation, then that faith will be instantly rewarded and confirmed at the moment of our death. On the other hand, Paul warns us, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (10) to give an account of our lives. It is a serious thing to stand before an all-knowing and holy judge! Our Lord is a consuming fire.

And so Paul says, “we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him” (9).

Prayer: Lord, by faith, I confess that I am yours whether I live or die.

Scriptural Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven,

3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.

4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.

5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

6 So we are always confident, knowing that while 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, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

The Judgment Seat of Christ

9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

NKJV

We Walk By Faith