Category: Today’s Truth

Our goal in this life is to please the Lord. Whatever we do, it should be as a representative of God living to please Him as it says in Colossians 3:17: “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” We should represent God in our actions and words, living to please Him and bring Him honor.

While it can be difficult to please the Lord in our human flesh, it is possible. We live in an earthly body, but we are still a spiritual being, created in the image of God. 2 Corinthians 5:9-10 says, “So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.”

We should desire to please Him because of what He has done in our lives. We should look forward to eternity and know that we will be judged according to our actions. We will all stand before the Lord. Live your life as if you are striving to please your Heavenly Father.

There are some people who are not believers because they will not believe in what they cannot see. They only believe by seeing. However, there are many things that we choose to believe in in this life that we cannot see. We cannot see the wind, yet we feel it and know that it is there. We cannot see emotions, but we know that they are real because we see the evidence and effects of them in ourselves and others. We believe in magnetism because we can see what it does, but we cannot see it. Yet, some of us have trouble even believing the spiritual that we cannot see.

2 Corinthians 5:7-8 tells us, “For we live by believing and not by seeing. Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.” When we choose to believe in the spiritual, we are choosing to see the invisible and believe the invisible. We put our hope in the unseen, knowing that it is very real. We not only believe, but are confident in who God is and what He has done in our lives. We have our sights set on eternity and our future heavenly bodies instead of what is temporary and earthly.

So what about you? What do you choose to believe? Do you have confidence in who Christ is and what He did on the cross? Do you look forward to eternity or are you stuck in the temporary? God has great things in store for those who choose to follow Him.

Is there anything in this life that you are confident about? Are you confident in your marriage? Your friendships? Your career? Your future? Maybe you are confident in little things like what you will wear, the money you have, or your material belongings. What makes you confident about those things? Everything in this life is temporary. As first John says, it will all pass away. So if we are confident in the things of this world, we place all of our hope in the things that will pass away.

If you instead place your hope and trust in the Lord and His promises, you will have everlasting confidence in the things that really matter. The eternal things. Just as 2 Corinthians 5:6 says, “So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord.” Our confidence comes from the Lord. He is our strength when we are weak. Because of Him we have confidence. We have confidence in Him and His Word and what He can do in someone’s life.

When you live your life, let that confidence shine through you so you can live your life for Him. We can trust that He will work in the lives of His people and keep His word.

Everything that God has done for us is in preparation for what He has for us. “God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit,” as 2 Corinthians 5:5 says. The Holy Spirit is proof that God works in our lives and is preparing more for us.

The Holy Spirit is our advocate and our intercessor. He is the middle man between us and God. He has made a way for us to communicate with the Father. This is why the Holy Spirit was sent to live in God’s people. Before Jesus went up to heaven to be with the Father in Acts 1, He said that He was sending the Holy Spirit so that we could be His witnesses. The Holy Spirit was our guarantee that we were meant for more than this world has to offer. We know that He is preparing us for the rest of our lives into eternity. When we became saved, He placed His Spirit inside our hearts so that we could be a testimony for Him. We can spend the rest of our lives living here on earth with the Father and telling others about the joy we have. What a great purpose.

We will know how to speak to others about Him because He is preparing our hearts for that. He uses the Holy Spirit to give us the words to say and when we pray for others, He speaks on our behalf.

God is the ultimate giver of life. There are some wonderful things that man has done and invented, like walking on the moon or creating 21st century communication, but we will never be able to accomplish what only God can do: create and give life. In this world today we see how desperately man wants to explain creation without God and how he wants to do the things that God can do, but it is impossible. Only God can do what God can do.

2 Corinthians 5:4 says, “While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.” As Christians, we tend to long for eternity in heaven. Sometimes it is because of the troubles we face in this life and other times it is because of the closeness we feel to God. We know that He is the giver of life. He gives and takes away. He is the only explanation for all things. So while we’re here on this earth, we can live a life for Him, put on the things of God since we are a new creation, and carry the gospel message wherever we go.

We can be the evidence of God, the work of His hands. We can show the world how real He is by the way that we live and act. We can be His living miracles by sharing our testimonies of what He has done in our lives.

“We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.” 2 Corinthians 5:2-3 Doesn’t that describe the hearts of God’s beloved people so well? We grow weary, and we long to be with God.

When our sights are on heaven and eternity, we will see the world differently. We will live differently. We will talk to those around us differently. We will want to put on the things of God daily as we put on new clothing. Colossians 3:12 says, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” These are the things we have to put on everyday. They are the characteristics of a new, restored life. When we put on these qualities, we will show the world what a godly, changed life looks like.

What qualities do you need to put on? Take a minute to pray and ponder on the qualities that you need to begin putting on every single day. Do you need to be merciful or kind to those around you? Do you need to clothe yourself with gentleness or patience? Pray everyday that God would help you put these things on everyday so that you may live like Him and show others His love.

Can you just imagine what the Garden of Eden must have been like for Adam? Walking with God everyday. Everything in perfect harmony. Never needing anything but always having enough? It is hard for us to even begin to entertain those ideas because we live in constant suffering, always focused on our own troubles and what we do not have.

Adam went from a life of luxury and joy to a life of hardship and sorrow. He went from walking with God and enjoying the pleasures of the garden with Eve, to mourning the death of his son Abel and the bitterness of Cain. So what changed? Sin. Sin brought death into the world and divided God from man. It was the reason God had to send Jesus to die on the cross and suffer, so that our relationship with God could be mended. Now we live in this broken, earthly world and are waiting to join God in heaven and walk with Him once again. 2 Corinthians 5:1 says, “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” While this earthly body is but a tent that we temporarily reside in, we look forward to the permanent house we will live and abide in with God forever in heaven.

He will make all things new. He will bring restoration to the broken. He will once again walk side by side with His creation. Until that day, we set our eyes on things eternal instead of earthly things, and we live according to the promises He has given.

How can you get past the troubles in this life? We know that they won’t go away, so how is it possible to live a life for the Lord and not focus on our momentary troubles? 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

We must have a heaven focused mindset instead of an earthly mindset. We must not allow the troubles of today affect our future and our godly lives. We have to see everything as temporary instead of lasting problems. Instead of fixing your gaze on the momentary things of this world, fix your gaze on the unseen things. These things will last forever. If we see everything through the eyes of Christ, then we will see them differently and not selfishly.

We will see relationships differently when we see them through His eyes. He will lead and guide our relationships when we see them through His eyes, whether it is romantic relationships, friendships, family relationships, or work relationships. Everything can change when we allow God to be a part of our relationships.

The troubles in this life are small and momentary as 2 Corinthians 2:17 tells us. They are daily achieving a glory that will outweigh all of the troubles and will last forever. The Bible tells us that this life is but a mist. James 4:14 says, “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog-it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.”

We do not know what will happen in this life. We do not know how long we will live or the troubles we will find. Our lives are like the morning fog- here today and gone tomorrow. However, God knows. He knows everything about us. He knows the troubles that we will experience. He knows our days. We can trust Him with tomorrow, because He knows what tomorrow brings. He promises us that all of this is temporary and are small in retrospect.

Do you let your troubles overtake you or do you trust God with your troubles? Do you see your life as but a mist or do you rely on the temporary things of this life? They will all pass away but God is forever.

While we may go through sorrow in this life, while tragedy may strike, cancer may take over our earthly bodies, a global pandemic may threaten to wipe us out, we do not lose hope. While our outward bodies are wasting away, our inner spirit is being renewed day by day as 2 Corinthians 4:16 states (“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day”).

There is great hope to be found in Christ. We cannot trust in ourselves and our own earthly bodies. We will lead ourselves astray every time. We will get distracted and lose sight of who He is if we trust ourselves instead of the Lord. We cannot trust something that is temporary. However, God is eternal. He has placed His Spirit inside of us to live and breathe. Our spiritual selves are being renewed day by day because that is what God does. He renews us. Even when we try to mess things up, He will still pick us back up and renew our spirits.

Allow yourself to be found in Him today. May you rely on Him and His Spirit to lead and guide you. May you allow Him to renew your spirit today.