One of the ways in which the Apostle Paul supported his ministry was through donations from the various churches, but his main income came from the work of his own two hands. Paul made and mended tents. It required a lot of time and patience, so Paul had a lot of time to think about things … about God … about Jesus … about the churches that he help found. One day he looked at the tent he was making and he realized that these bodies that we live in are a lot like the tent that he was mending … a skin covering that provides a home for the life, the spirit, that lives within them.
The people who lived in tents in Paul’s day were nomads and shepherds. Their tents were their only homes, something that they could take with them as they moved from place to place. Sitting there, Paul got to thinking about how our bodies are “like tents that we live in here on earth. But when these tents are destroyed, we know that God will give each of us a place to live. These homes will not be buildings someone has made, but they are in heaven and will last forever. While we are here on earth, we sigh because we want to live in that heavenly home. We want to put it on like clothes and not be naked. These tents we now live in are like a heavy burden, and we groan. But we don't do this just because we want to leave these bodies that will die. It is because we want to change them for bodies that will never die. God is the one who makes all this possible. He has given us His Spirit to make us certain He will do it. … As long as we are in these bodies, we are away from the Lord” (2nd Corinthians 5:1-5,7).
Linda’s tent served as a home for her soul, her spirit, for the divine spark that was uniquely hers for 73 years. While her spirit is eternal, her ‘tent’ … her body … had grown worn and weary and was no longer providing her with the comfort and shelter that she needed. On Tuesday the Ultimate Tent Maker … the One who made her first tent … called her spirit home to give her a new tent … a new body. What kind of body? As long as we’re in these tents, these bodies, we can only speculate and guess but we can be sure of one thing … they won’t be like these bodies or these tents that we live in now. These bodies are perishable … our new bodies with be imperishable … eternal … forever. Our new, imperishable, eternal bodies will be strong and powerful compared to the bodies that we live in now, which are frail and weak compared to the new bodies that we will receive when we discard the ones that we have now. I agree with Paul. After we live out our time in these physical bodies as Linda and countless others have, I believe that we will be given a “spiritual” body … a glorious body, an eternal and immortal body.
Linda has left her frail and broken body behind, and with it she has also left behind many things. She left behind a husband that she loved … and still loves. She left behind a family … children and grandchildren whom she loved and still loves. She left behind friends whom she loved and still loves. She left behind her church and her church family, which she loved and still loves.
She left behind sitting around the table, watching and listening as family and friends talk and laugh and enjoy the meal that she prepared. She left behind the joy of sitting in a warm house watching the rain or snow fall outside. She left behind picking up her grandchildren after school and asking them about their day. She left behind cheering them on or consoling them for their performance on the playing field. She left behind laughing and kidding around with those whom she loved. She left behind falling asleep in the arms of her loved one at night. She left behind looking into the eyes of unconditional love as a puppy snuggles in her lap. She left behind so many wonderful things … but there are other things, not so wonderful things, that she also left behind. She left behind pain. She left behind a failing body. She left behind broken dreams. She left behind disappointment, despair, and heartache.
She left behind fear. When the Apostle John described his vision of the Heavenly City, he described the gates of the Heavenly City as always being open because nothing dangerous, nothing “unclean,” nothing threatening can or will ever enter the Heavenly City.
She left behind hunger and physical needs. John described the “water of life” flowing from underneath the throne of God and on each side of this river would be the Tree of Life producing fruit all year round … suggesting that all our needs … physical and spiritual will forever be met, forever be satisfied.
I believe that Linda did take something with her. She didn’t take her house. She didn’t take any of her clothes or jewelry. She didn’t her car. She didn’t take a dime with her. But I believe that she did take us with her. Jesus said to store to store up for ourselves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust consumes nor thieves can break in and steal it. When Jesus says to store up our treasures in Heaven, I used to picture our “treasure” waiting for us in some kind of heavenly safety deposit box but. if Jesus says, our treasure is in Heaven, I believe that it will be the treasure that we bring with us … the treasure that we store up on our hearts … things like memories … that don’t rust. A thief may break into our house and steal stuff, things, but they can’t break into our hearts and steal our memories, our hopes, our dreams, our love. I believe that Linda took a heart full of memories, a heart full of love for all you with her when she left us, don’t you think? And she is treasuring them where she is now.
What did we give up or lose when Linda left her earthly tent and went home to be with her Heavenly Father? Phil lost a good wife and life companion. Her family lost as good mother … a good sister … a loving, doting grandmother … and we all lost a good friend. We lost her dry humor. We lost her energy and her volunteer spirit. We lost her dependability. We lost her directness. We lost her laugh.
But … [pause]
Let’s look at what Jesus gave up. In his letter to the Christian community in Philippi, Paul made this observation: God, the divine Creation, Ruler, and Sustainer of the Universe … Who has all because He is sovereign over all that He created … poured Himself out for us. For a time, He gave up infinite power, infinite wisdom … He gave up Heaven and the adoration of countless angels, divine beings, and saints to become, as Paul describes Him, a servant, a slave who lived in a temporary tent made of flesh and blood and not only suffered the usual joy and suffering that we normally experience in a lifetime but also suffered the pain of rejection by those He came to save. He gave up more for us than we could possibly imagine so that we can gain more than we could possibly imagine. Because of what Jesus did, because of what Jesus gave up for our sake when He had all … when He didn’t have to … we gained the true treasure and longing of our hearts … Jesus Christ … being with Jesus, being in His Presence forever … to receive and to experience His love directly from Him. This is what Linda is experiencing right now … the love of God in a way that we cannot possibly imagine so long as we exist in these tents of flesh and blood.
Right now, right here in this moment, we are experiencing pain and loss because of our love for Linda … but that pain won’t last forever. The pain that we feel right now will one day be replaced by the pure love and joy and peace that she is receiving and experiencing right now … and if you think that we love her now … trust me … the love that we have for her right now is, in Paul’s words, a dim and shabby reflection of the kind love that we will give and receive when we join her in Paradise.
As powerful as our love is for Linda … as strong as our love is for her and for each other … even for Jesus … our love right now is like a drop of water in the ocean compared to the love that we will have for her and for each other when are in the Presence of Pure Love itself, amen?
If we get new bodies … spiritual bodies … will we recognize each other? Oh … I’m willing to bet that we will not only recognize each other but will know each other in ways that we could never experience so long as we live in these earthly, temporary tents. We will understand each other like we were never able to understand each other down here. We will be able to relate to each other in a way that we never could in these bodies. We will be able to love each other … not with our dim love, our shadow of love, our imperfect love that we have right now … but with perfect love at the deepest possible level. As Paul says, and I wholehearted believe, we not see each other or Jesus dimly but “face to face” … for now, we only know in part but when we reach Paradise, when we stand shoulder to shoulder in the presence of the absolute true desire of our hearts … and then we will know fully … we will know each other fully and they will know us fully … and we will not only know each other fully but we will know and experience the pure, undiluted love of God fully. As long as we’re in these bodies, says Paul, we are separated from the true desire of our heart. For now, says Paul, “living is Christ and dying is gain…. I am hard pressed between … my desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better” than to have to struggle and suffer and do without the true desire of my heart. But Linda is no longer caught betwixt and between. She had left this earth and is now in Paradise … not ‘paradise’ because the streets are paved with gold … not paradise because the gates are made of pearl and the walls are made out of precious jewels. It’s paradise because the gates are always open. It’s paradise because nothing unclean can enter it. It is paradise because there is no falsehood, no abomination … no sin. It is paradise because there are none of these things … like pride and jealousy and hate … that cause us so much pain and suffering and fear while we live in these temporary tents of flesh and blood. It is paradise because there is no night or day because it is filled with the glory of God. It will be paradise because we have His name on our foreheads like Linda did and we will see His face and stand and praise and worship the Lamb of God who gave up so much that we might gain more than we, who live in these tents of flesh and blood can only see dimly now … who can only give and receive love in a very limited capacity now.
We miss Linda now. We miss Linda because we love Linda but, in the end, we will be able to know Linda and to love Linda infinitely more than we are able to now because we will be able to experience and to share the pure love our true hearts’ desire with her and with each for all eternity.
