Thursday after Exaudi
Posted on May 20, 2021 by under
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (NKJV)
5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Devotion
Everything will come to an end. The Church looks at the trials and tumults of this life, not as the world looks at them, but with the vast hope we have in Christ Jesus.
We have been clothed in the white robe of righteousness that the Lord has given us in Baptism. By the giving of the Holy Ghost we are enabled to live and, as the Apostle Paul puts it, desire to be further clothed. This “further clothing” is a deeper understanding of Christ and His Word, knowing that death has been swallowed up in victory.
Our groans and longing to be with the Lord and to see His day, again, are not groans of hopelessness, but of fervent longing for our Master’s return. Therefore, we are always confident, as the Apostle states, because we are given the Spirit to walk by faith and not by sight. We know the outcome of all history and it is the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Almighty, Everlasting God, make us to have always a devout will toward Thee and to serve Thy Majesty with a pure heart; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
