THE TENT WE LIVE IN

THE TENT WE LIVE IN

                “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day… for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal… for we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling in heaven… Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always  of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord- for we walk by faith, not by sight- we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” (Excerpts from 2 Cor. 4:16 to 2 Cor. 5:1-8)

                While God has given me stewardship over this tent that I dwell in, to treat it as a temple of God and to bring glory to His name in all that I do; I nevertheless have to admit that while this outer man is slouching toward the grave, my inner man is being built and inhabited more and more, by the Holy Spirit who has been given as a pledge of my eternal inheritance.

                We tend to invest a great deal of time and money dressing and caring for these tents we live in and of course God’s Word does give us much instruction concerning health of body, soul and spirit… and so if we are to walk with God in Spirit, we should also walk with God in soul and body as well, for He says that whatever we eat or drink we do all to the glory of God.

                There are very few Christians that consider our entire being when it comes to walking with God. But 1 Thess. 5:23 says: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

                That our entire being, spirit, soul and body are also represented by the tabernacle is lost to most people’s attention. It is most likely this picture to which Paul is referring when he talks about the preserving of our entire being, spirit, soul and body complete and without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus.

                And even though we believe in divine healing, we don’t seem to be any healthier than the world in general and I have to wonder why. Could it be that while we believe God for miracles, we tend to ignore His instruction for maintaining our health in the first place?

On one hand we can’t help the fact that we have only been allotted a certain amount of time to live. We are given 70 or perhaps 80 years to live and I, for one, am soon to step bravely into borrowed time. I will turn 71 in October and even though I feel, for the most part like a teenager, my life has taken on the aspects of a countdown.

                This is by no means a negative thing of course. Like Paul I believe that for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Phil. 1:21) “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:6) So I am not particularly worried about dying  for in reality I desire to depart and be with Christ for that is very much better, but I will remain in the flesh as long as I have a purpose to serve in this kingdom.  (Phil: 1:23-24)

                We Christians need not live in fear, for Jesus Christ, through His death and resurrection has provided a wonderful future for us. So even though we may do our best to take care of these tents we dwell in, we nevertheless want to give our best attention to that eternal part of us that has been created in Christ Jesus and inhabited by His Holy Spirit.

                There is a progression in our salvation that involves our entire being. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes in and quickens our spirit and places eternal life in us… in our spirit. This is why the Bible says that he who has the Son has life. We have eternal life. IN fact John tells us in John 3:36: “He who believes in the Son HAS eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Oooo… don’t want to go there.

                Jesus told Martha concerning death saying: I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? “John 11:25, 26. In plain English Jesus was saying that even if our body dies, the inner man lives on and if our body lives until the coming of the Lord we will not die at all.

                So you know I try to keep this old tent up to the best of my ability. I don’t believe there is any place in scripture where God tells us to let our bodies go to pot since we will just die anyway. In fact John says in 3 John 2: “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”

                There seems to be a connection between our soul prospering and our life being prosperous and our bodies in good health. In fact, one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control or temperance.

                As owners and stewards of these tents we can come under the self- control of the Spirit, thus restoring balance to our bodies, our minds and our spirits that will lead to spiritual, mental and physical well- being.

                I have always thought it a little awkward to ask God for divine health if we choose to live on jelly donuts, or if we totally ignore the laws of health.

                Now, we live in a sinful world, in a satanic environment and as such we can’t have control over every aspect of our health. Some things are just beyond our control. Nevertheless I will tell you that those who take care of their bodies are much healthier than those who believe in divine healing but totally ignore the laws of health.

                AT best it is a struggle and it is a battle that we don’t always win and even among those who try to keep in shape they are still vulnerable to environmental hazards of one kind or another… or genetic based or viral based disease.

                In referring back to the progression of our salvation it has been said that we ARE saved, we are BEING saved and we are GOING TO BE saved. That is to say that as born again Christians our spirit is saved. That part is a done deal. But we are also being saved in our souls (minds) which are daily being renewed in Christ and washed by the regeneration of the Word. But we can also look forward to our being saved in the future when this mortal puts on immortality and this corruptible puts on that which is incorruptible.

                This is the great salvation that Jesus has wrought for us. It is the total redemption of our being, body, soul and spirit at the coming of the Lord. So until then I will just sort of camp out in this tent, maintaining it the best I can until the day the Lord takes me home.

                So excuse me while I go and pump some iron… YEAH… RIGHT!  I’m going… I’m going… I’m going already. Ouch, ouch! Should a body have to do such things as this before daylight? There ought to be a law in favor of procrastination… come on Rick, you old couch potato… get up and practice what you preach… Mmmm… apple fritters… shut up… the den Rick… your weights are in the den!!! Yes master.”