Imagine you are hiking through the forest, pitching tents for the night as you journey to your destination: a beautiful mountain villa you’ve inherited from your father. But if you’ve ever gone camping, you would know that even the most luxurious tent cannot live up to the comforts of a house.

When the winds blow, your tent will shake and rattle.

In the cold of the night, you can only wrap ourselves with more blankets and covers to find some semblance of warmth.

And when you hear the howls of animals in the forest, the thin tent walls don’t feel particularly protective and safe.

Overall, it's not the most enjoyable experience.

But despite all this, as you lay in your cold sleeping bag while the tent shakes against the wind, you tell yourself: Just a few more nights of this. I’m almost at the end of the hike, and there’s a great new home waiting for me.

The Better Home to Come

Our life on earth is just like this hike to that beautiful mountain villa. In our mortality, we face many unpleasant, sorrowful moments. But in our suffering, we can draw strength and hope from knowing that there is a better home prepared for us (2 Cor 5:1).

What kind of a better home is this? The Bible tells us that home will have no more death, sorrow, crying, and pain (Rev 21:4), all of which are characteristic of life on earth. Not to mention, there is also a beautiful view! There will be walls of precious jewels, pure gold streets and crystal clear waters from the river of life (Rev 21:18-23; Rev 22:1).

And though we cannot see this wonderful home, God has given us a guarantee to assure us that He has prepared for us a home. This guarantee is the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 5:5).

But given a choice: Would you rather go to heaven right now or continue to live on earth? What would your answer be? Though we know that heaven is a better place than earth, many people, including myself, might say heaven is nice but I don’t want to go there right now. But Paul would give a different answer. He knew heaven was a better place and he himself was not afraid of death but instead yearned to return to that better land (2 Cor 5:2-4, 8, Phil 1:21).

For us as Christians, we must not be afraid of death (not that we are seeking for death). If we are so afraid of death so much so that we do not even think about it, then perhaps our faith has been fixed on the wrong thing. Perhaps we have built our faith around things which can be seen and are temporary rather than that which are not seen and are eternal (2 Cor 4:18).

Knowing How to Live

But until the moment we take our last breath, we still have to continue living in this world so we need to know how to live. If we know how to live, we will not be afraid of dying.

So how should we live?

1) Walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7).

We all have two pairs of eyes. Our physical set of eyes will grow dimmer as we age. But our spiritual eyes can grow brighter with each passing day. That is dependent on whether or not we cultivate our spiritual eyesight.

A bright pair of spiritual eyes would be one that is able to believe that God is always with me, He is guiding me even though I may now know how, and my life is in His hands.

When we reach crossroads in life, we often worry about our future.

Will I be able to find a spouse in the Lord?
Would I be impacted by this round of retrenchment?
How will I raise my children well while juggling all my other responsibilities?

These moments of worry are opportunities for us to train our spiritual eyes and practice walking by faith rather than sight.

Walking by faith entails trusting in the promises of God’s goodness and providence (Rom 8:28, Matt 6:32-33, Matt 12:28, John 14:16-18) while continuing to carry out His will by keeping His commandments and worshipping Him (Matt 6:24, John 10:27-28, John 12:46-48, John 14:15).

2) Living to please God (2 Cor 5:6)

What are our goals in life?

Most people either have no goals or have many ambitious goals. But most of these goals are often centered around pleasing ourselves. Yet we often forget that one day, we will have to appear before God who sits on the judgement seat and all that we have done in our lives, whether good or bad, will be judged by God (2 Cor 5:10-11).

So let us make this our daily aim to be pleasing to God, praying to God saying: God what do you want me to do? You created me, You let me live, what do You want me to do with my life? How can I use every single day to please You?