Everyone Knows the Fallen World

Scripture: Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. 2 Corinthians 5:4-5

Observation: In several different ways, Paul makes this point ... that we intuitively know that our lives are hard, and yet that there is a better life promised to us. He says that we groan within this "earthly tent" due to the hardships of life. By our faith, we believe there is something better - a life without hardships, and beautiful dwelling place, a body free from pain and struggle - and it is that place that is our true home.

Yes, as believers in the Lord, we believe these things, and as believers in Christ we have confidence of the salvation that will lead us home. However, there is a truth to all this that exists even for those who do not believe in Yahweh, and that is found in an intuitive understanding that life is full of hardship. Every person has an understanding that there is something flawed in the "human condition" that results in sadness, misery, strife, and pain, and that the ideal would be something devoid of such experiences. In other words, even non-believers know we live in the fallen world, and that there certainly is something better promised to mankind. They just reject the truth about how to attain it. 

Application: Again I see the wonder of the Lord by the fact he absolutely and unequivocally reveals himself to every single person. God created us to want heaven! He created us to know that the world is not only imperfect, but lacks the ability to be perfect, and that there is a promise of something perfect where all the hardships are removed. Everyone groans about their life, laments pain and hardship and heartaches, and desired better. Some pursue 'better' so aggressively that they cause hardships for others. Yet even the most successful of these suffer in life.

The Lord makes it abundantly clear that this world is not the end-all, and that he has made us with a desire to want a heavenly home. He then told everyone how to get it. I cannot understand those who know the hope, and reject it.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you again for showing yourself plainly and clearly to all creation. May we continue to find ways to help others discover that you are already in their lives, simply asking them to let you in. Amen.