v: 1-2: For we know that if our earthly house, a tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made by human hands, eternal in heaven. And, in fact, we groan in this one, longing to put on our house from heaven.
v. 4: Indeed, we who are in this tent groan, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality shall be swallowed up by life.
v. 8: Yet we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.
It's reading scriptures such as these that cause me to ask the question, "Why is death a bad thing?" It is no secret that on this earth, in this world, in our earthly bodies; we groan and we suffer. But when we die, God has an eternal body made for us...a body we long for...an existence unparalleled to anything here on earth.
For anyone in Christ, death is hope. When a child of God dies, we cry for us...not for them. If we could fully comprehend what they are experiencing in their eternal body in the kingdom of God, we would rejoice for them. We would congratulate them. We would long to go too.
This hope is what gives me great comfort when I think about my mom. She died on April 19, 2009. She suffered almost her entire adult life with severe scoliosis (curvature of the spine). Her body was very twisted and caused her tremendous pain. She was sick, in pain and disabled most of her life. But, I knew when she died, she had been released from that twisted prison of pain. She was experiencing no pain, no sickness, no suffering. These words from Chris Tomlin's song, "I Will Rise" comfort me greatly when I think of her...
I will rise when He calls my name.
No more sorrow
No more pain
I will rise on eagle's wings
before my God
fall on my knees...
Be comforted and know...
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