Good, Better, Best for paper Jan 25.

“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. …. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 1: 1, 6-8

For all of us our tent, the body wears down. It grows old. It dies. With that sight and sound and touch and all that’s going on with our bodies, these tents, how can Paul say, “We are always confident”? How can we always be confident and “walk by faith”?

Well, Paul certainly knew what happens to the body. Earlier in 2 Corinthians, he wrote about a brush with death that shook him to his very core. He had also been persecuted, run out of town, and thrown in jail, and he had faced death numerous times. His body was growing old. I’m sure he had hoped that Jesus would come back before he died, but now he’s beginning to realize that probably won’t happen. He knows that he is soon to die. With that in mind, he gives the Corinthians, he gives us, and perhaps he even gives himself a better word and the best word that gives courage. We could summarize a part of this his words with “We Are always confident as we walk by faith because of the better and best that are yet to come.”

The better word is that when we die, we will be with Jesus. Paul writes, “Yes, we are always confident, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord”. 2 Corinthians 5:8 But then, a time will come that’s the best time of all, because there will be a resurrection of our bodies.

In other words, it’s good to be in our bodies now to serve the Lord. It will be better to be with him after we die while we are waiting for him to come back. That in-between time is a time when our soul and spirit are with Jesus. It is a time of peace and rest for our souls. But the body is still here in a grave or as ashes in an urn or decaying somewhere else.

So, during that in-between time, our souls rest with Jesus as our bodies return to the dust of the earth, and that is better, Paul says, than what we experience in this life. But what is best is yet to come on the final day when our resurrection occurs.

For some they’ve become sloppy in our language about what happens when we die. Too often, we just talk about going to heaven when we die and that’s about it. That’s all we’re hoping for. Now, going to be with Jesus will be wonderful. But that’s not our Christian hope in its entirety. That’s not the eternal life we are ultimately looking for.

That in-between time can be wonderful. But the best is yet to come. Because on the Last Day, the day when Jesus returns, all of creation will be renewed. We will rise with our physical bodies glorified. There will be no more groaning, no more pain, no more death, no more disintegration, no more decay. Our eyes will see colors more vivid than any rainbow; our taste buds will explode with flavors of foods that we cannot even imagine now. The smells will be aromas you want to breathe in deep and long. We will touch with nerve endings that are alive once again, perhaps caressing a face of someone you so loved. And we will hear music lifting us up to the greatest heights. We are waiting for that day when Jesus returns to make everything new once again. So we walk in faith, confidently believing all this “best is yet to come” will one day arrive, because Jesus has already been resurrected in his body.

It is good to walk by faith and not by sight in this life, to be confident, to do what is pleasing to the Lord. It is better to die and go to be with him. But what is best is yet to come. And so, how can we always be confident and “walk by faith”? Walking by faith is knowing that the better and best is yet to come and this gives us confidence in our future as we live out our life.

Blessings,