NOTES for Co2 5:1-10
Paul’s whole life is centered on the hope of something very distant. An eccentric. What normal person would subordinate his existence to the expectation of some dwelling in heaven? Eternal it may be, but when will it ever come...
It is natural for human nature to seek the satisfaction of its needs as quickly and tangibly as possible. If something hurts me, or someone has offended me, or family relationships are not working out, I want one thing: to feel better as soon as possible. And at that moment sin can seem quite justified. Like Nuf-Nuf, the clever little pig, we build brick houses to protect us from the wolf. Yet those same solid walls also protect us from God.
To entrust ourselves to Him and, “groaning under our burden,” await the reward and joy of another world, and therefore to subordinate our intentions and actions not to the fulfillment of our desires but to following God’s will: this is the path to holiness. But it is a difficult and costly path, one that requires courage and faith. To renounce much here merely in the belief that immeasurably more will be given there... Easier said than done.
It seems that everyone who walks this path has more than once felt a strong desire to give up. Perhaps the Apostle Paul also had moments of temptation. But they could not shake his passionate striving toward God, who has prepared for His children “a house not made with hands, eternal”, a house where there will be neither sorrow, nor sickness, nor sighing. And so, living in a world whose mortality he feels keenly, Paul strives for only one thing: to be pleasing to God, so as not to lose life with Him. There are moments when God is felt to be so immense and beautiful, strong and tender, that in comparison with Him all problems, failures, and everyday worries become small and insignificant, taking their proper place. It is important not to lose such moments; may their memory sustain us when the brick mansion of our desires once again seems more attractive than a dwelling in heaven.