Are We Truly Home Yet?

The kettle whistles in the kitchen as you stand, staring out the window at the rain. It's just another day, another moment in a life that sometimes feels like a waiting room. The rhythm of daily tasks, the small joys and frustrations, keep us moving forward. Yet, beneath it all, there is a persistent longing—a whisper of something more, something eternal.

Paul captures this yearning in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10. He speaks of our earthly bodies as a "tabernacle," a temporary dwelling. He writes, "For we know that if our earthly house of [this] tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1). The Greek word for tabernacle here is skēnos ^G4636, which means a temporary dwelling. It's a reminder that our bodies, our current existence, are not the end. They are temporary, like tents pitched for a season, while the eternal awaits us.

This longing is not new. Throughout Scripture, we see the faithful yearning for a home they have yet to see. Job knew it when he declared, "I know that my redeemer liveth" (Job 19:25). The writer of Hebrews speaks of faith as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is our anchor in this longing.

Paul continues, "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" (2 Corinthians 5:2). The groaning is not merely a complaint but a deep, earnest yearning. The Greek word epipotheō ^G1971 means to intensely crave. We long for the day when mortality is swallowed up by life, when we are clothed in the eternal.

But why this groaning? Why this deep-seated longing? It's because we are burdened, Paul says, not because we wish to discard our bodies, but because we yearn for what is promised: "that mortality might be swallowed up of life" (2 Corinthians 5:4). This is not a desire to escape, but a longing for completion, for the fullness of life that God has prepared for us.

A Pledge of What's to Come

In this longing, God has not left us without assurance. "Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing [is] God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 5:5). The Spirit is our arrhabōn ^G728, our pledge, a down payment of the eternal life to come. It's a reminder that while we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), we are not left alone.

This assurance is echoed throughout Scripture. In Romans, Paul writes, "we are saved by hope" (Romans 8:24). And again, in 1 Peter, we are reminded, "Whom having not seen, ye love" (1 Peter 1:8). Our faith, our hope, is not in vain.

Yet, you may be reading this with a tired heart. The weight of the world, the struggles of life, can make the promise of eternity feel distant. But take heart. The Spirit within you is the guarantee of what is to come. It is a reminder that while we are "at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:6), but this is not our final state.

Living in Light of Eternity

Paul concludes with a call to action: "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him" (2 Corinthians 5:9). This labor is not in vain, for "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:10). Each moment, each decision, is an opportunity to live in light of eternity.

The judgment seat is not a place of fear for those in Christ, but a place of hope and reward. As Matthew records, "the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works" (Matthew 16:27). Our labor is not unnoticed; our faithfulness is seen.

So, dear reader, as you sip your tea and watch the rain, remember: this world is not your home. The longing you feel is a divine invitation to look beyond the seen to the unseen, to the eternal. It is a call to live with courage and confidence, knowing that "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8) is our true hope.

Let us pray for the strength to walk by faith, not by sight, and to live each day in the light of the eternity that awaits us.

Let us pray.

Father, we thank You for the promise of an eternal home with You. Help us to live with courage and faith as we await the fulfillment of Your promises. Strengthen us by Your Spirit, our earnest of what is to come. In Jesus' name, amen.