6/13/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
I’d like to take a close look today at 1 Corinthians 5:4. Here, the apostle is referring to our earthly life as a tent. To most people at Paul’s time, a tend was not quite as disposable as it is to the average American wannabe camper. It was considered durable, often passed from one family member to another. But it was not permanent, like a house.
However, Paul’s comment in verse 4 speaks of the trials we endure while in our earthly tent. Greek philosophy, like much that we find in current Americans, says that death is a way for the real person to escape from the prison of the mortal body. To use Paul’s metaphor, we who live in a tend want the tent ripped away so we can be homeless. I suppose we would never worry about the tent leaking or catching fire if that were to happen. But it would have some definite disadvantages.
Paul says the Christian has a different approach. Rather than seeking to be unclothed, we pray that God would clothe us more. Picture the tent, but with some solid walls, then maybe a roof, a floor, and all the rest. The Christian sees this mortal life not as something to be escaped, but a time awaiting greater fulfillment. We endure trials now. One day the Lord will show us how He is our protector and the one who has made us safe from all harm. He has begun to do this in his resurrection. He will complete it in ours.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
I’d like to take a close look today at 1 Corinthians 5:4. Here, the apostle is referring to our earthly life as a tent. To most people at Paul’s time, a tend was not quite as disposable as it is to the average American wannabe camper. It was considered durable, often passed from one family member to another. But it was not permanent, like a house.
However, Paul’s comment in verse 4 speaks of the trials we endure while in our earthly tent. Greek philosophy, like much that we find in current Americans, says that death is a way for the real person to escape from the prison of the mortal body. To use Paul’s metaphor, we who live in a tend want the tent ripped away so we can be homeless. I suppose we would never worry about the tent leaking or catching fire if that were to happen. But it would have some definite disadvantages.
Paul says the Christian has a different approach. Rather than seeking to be unclothed, we pray that God would clothe us more. Picture the tent, but with some solid walls, then maybe a roof, a floor, and all the rest. The Christian sees this mortal life not as something to be escaped, but a time awaiting greater fulfillment. We endure trials now. One day the Lord will show us how He is our protector and the one who has made us safe from all harm. He has begun to do this in his resurrection. He will complete it in ours.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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