Some Insights on Tents and Eternity

My grandma was born in 1909 in the tent where her family lived in the small town of Swink, Colorado. 

I can’t imagine how difficult it was for my great-grandparents managing their growing family, cooking on a campfire, being at the mercy of the Colorado weather, and being without running water. 

I’ve camped in a tent but never lived in one.

No, that’s not true. 

In 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, Paul explains that our present bodies are temporary “tents” where we live until our heavenly home is built. 

We can find joy in our earthly tents. But, as Paul explains, we also “grow weary…we groan and sigh” as our tent ages and we deal with winds of adversity and storms of persecution. We have access to streams of living water (John 7:38) and God is our shield (Proverbs 30:5), but tent life still isn't easy.

God has important things for us to do here and now, but let’s never forget this promise we have as believers: one day, we will reside in our heavenly home, seeing our Savior face-to-face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Our “dying bodies will be swallowed up by life” (2 Corinthians 5:4).

Ponder that truth today: if Christ is your Savior, you are headed for life, not death.

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For more inspiration on this subject, see Not Home Yet. I also wrote about the challenges of this tent life on my birthday in 2023: It is the Best of Times; It is the Worst of Times. 

2 Corinthians 5:1-5: “For 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. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

💙Be sure to check out The Bible Love Notes devotional Wisdom for Life. Discounted on Lifeway, Amazon, and CBD. And sign up for a free subscription to Bible Love Notes 1-minute devotions HERE.

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