Citizens of two worlds

“We know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by God-made resurrection bodies in heaven—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less” (II Corinthians 5:1-5, The Message).

The essence of these verses has been stated for us in a poem by Studdard Kennedy.

I’m a man and a man’s a mixture right down from his very birth.

For part of him comes from heaven and part of him comes from earth.

As those who have a spiritual and a physical nature, we have much in common with the species of animals called “pinnipeds.” Seals, Sea Lions, Elephant Seals, and Walruses belong to that family. They too are citizens of two worlds who are more at home in the water than on land but their nature demands that they return to the land.

If you have ever taken the time to study these animals, you no doubt have seen just how cumbersome life on the land is for them. They expend a lot of energy dragging their blubber laden bodies across the rocks or the beaches, especially the Sea Elephants. Being mammals, their very nature demands that they surface to breath and return to the land to breed and bear their young. But, put them in the water and they seem weightless. In the water they dart and weave and play. In the water they are a grace in motion.

As Christians, we, like the pinnipeds, experience times in which we soar in the spirit, lifted on wings of glory and grace. As the Psalmist wrote, “Whom have I in heaven but You and besides you I desire nothing on earth” (Psalm 73:25). There are times when all we desire is to be in His presence and not have to leave, but, alas, we are called to return to our earthy responsibilities.

We must rise from our beds every morning to procure a living for our families, to care for house and home, to study that we might understand and prosper in the natural world that surrounds us. It is then and there that we can relate with the words of the Apostle Paul, “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” (II Corinthians 5:6-8).

Though for the present time we must tolerate and make the best of this duality, one day, we will break forth from these “earth suits” and forever occupy the true home for which we were ultimately created. Until then…

“We know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by God-made resurrection bodies in heaven—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less” (II Corinthians 5:1-5, The Message).