Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: 2 Corinthians 5 and Psalm 123

In 2 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul writes beautifully about our life beyond the doorway of death. He reminds his readers that all believers will enter an eternal, heavenly home in the very instant our physical bodies die (v.1-8). Most importantly, though, he highlights the implication this eternal destination has for right here and now.

⁹ So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due to us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Beyond the grave, the day is coming for each of us when we will give an account to the Lord. It is unavoidable. What we have done in this body will have consequences in eternity. So right here and now we are exhorted to adjust our behaviour accordingly and to live by the one ultimate priority – the goal of pleasing the Lord. We cannot yet do anything about pleasing the Lord when we are away from the body. That opportunity will only come our way after death. But we can (and must) do everything we can to please the Lord right here and now, in the body, with the physical life He has granted us.

As Alexander MacLaren wrote in his commentary on these verses: “You report to headquarters. Never mind what anybody else thinks of you. Your business is to please Christ, and the less you trouble yourselves about pleasing men the more you will succeed in doing it.”

Life Application: Often the desire to please ourselves or others overwhelms the importance of pleasing Christ. Let today be the day that you reset your target and determine again to do everything within your power to please the Lord.