“Whether we are at home on earth or away from home and with Him, it is our constant ambition to be pleasing to Him.” ~Apostle Paul

18 Sunday Sep 2022

Posted by Michael Wilson in God is God, God is Good, God Thoughts

Tags

Courage, Death, Hope, Jesus, Philippians, Philippians 1, Philippians 1:21-26

See the source image My hope is in Jesus. That is the main thing about the main thing. Is your hope in Jesus? If not, put your trust in the Messiah without delay.

Never forget that we have hope of life after death for one reason: Jesus the Messiah removed the barrier between us and God — the barrier caused by missing God’s goal (aka sin). Now that is some stunning news.

That is worth a mighty shout out. Let’s throw a party!

For to me, to live is the Messiah as He is my source of joy, my reason to live and to die is gain for I will be with Him in eternity. If, however, it is to be life here and I am to go on living, this will mean useful and productive service for me; so I do not know which to choose if I am given that choice. But I am hard-pressed between the two. I have the desire to leave this world and be with the Messiah, for that is far, far better; yet to remain in my body is more necessary and essential for your sake. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your rejoicing for me may overflow in the Messiah Jesus through my coming to you again.

(Philippians 1:21-26 The Amplified Bible)

I am convinced that when we die, we at once enter the presence of the Master. At some future time, we will be given new bodies, like the body Jesus had after His resurrection. But in the meantime, our souls are with the Master, and we are fully conscious of being in His presence.

This certainly was the Apostle Paul’s hope. He faced many dangers, and he knew that at any moment his life on earth could end.

But Paul faced death with hope. I share Paul’s courage.

So then, being always filled with good courage and confident hope, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Master — for we walk by faith, not by sight living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises — we are as I was saying of good courage and confident hope, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Master. Therefore, whether we are at home on earth or away from home and with Him, it is our constant ambition to be pleasing to Him. For we [believers will be called to account and] must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each one may be repaid for what has been done in the body, whether good or bad that is, each will be held responsible for his actions, purposes, goals, motives — the use or misuse of his time, opportunities, and abilities]

(2 Corinthians 5:6-10 The Amplified Bible)