A HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS
(Charles Hicks)

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 (2 Corinthians 5:1)

As I think about having a building from God, a house not made with hands, the words of Jesus from John 14:1-2 begin to swell within my heart, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.” My friends, as faithful children of God, we have the blessing of a hope that goes beyond this earthly life with all of its burdens and groanings (2 Cor. 5:2).

Having heard (Rom. 10:13-17), believed (John 3:35-36, Mark 16:16), repented (Luke 3:3-5), confessed (Rom. 10:9-10), been baptized (Acts 2:38, 22:16), and now living for and with the Lord (Gal. 2:20, Rev. 2:10), we have the priceless blessing of having been rescued from the kingdom of darkness and have been transferred to the kingdom of God's beloved Son (Col. 1:12-14). We should be impressed and our hearts filled with praise and thanksgiving when we consider the love God and his Son have for us (1 John 3:1-3, John 3:16. Rom. 5:8-9).

For a moment, think back to what Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 5:1, “we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands.” Do you hear what Paul says? He doesn't say maybe we have that building, or hoping its true or just have to wait and see. He says emphatically, We Know! There are no ifs, ands or maybes. I, for one, am convinced that if with an unfeigned love we obey the Lord (Rom. 5:8-9), if we truly seek things above and set our mind on things above, not on things that are on earth (Col. 3:1-2, Matt. 6:19-21), if we always seek first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33), if we present our bodies a living sacrifice, mot conforming to this world (Rom. 12:1-2), if we fill our hearts with God's word, let him mold our lives and guide us every step of the way, then we can with great confidence say , I Know!

 I love all those grand old songs we sing about heaven. One of them says, “There's a wonderful place we call home, Tis a city of glory divine, It is built in the garden of rest, And that beautiful home shall be mine.” It is through the eye of faith that I can see that wonderful city of God in the distance and with all my heart I believe that one day it will be my dwelling place. How about you?

I end this message with one of my favorite passages, “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. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to him” (2 Cor. 5:6-9).