Living the Life

2 Corinthians 5: 1 Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. (2) Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, (3) because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. (4) For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. (5) Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (6) Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. (7) We live by faith, not by sight. (8) We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. (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, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

On Wednesday I learned this passage tells us 2 important pieces of information: 1) You will die. 2) You will be judged. Andy (the pastor in the video) thinks that during this judgment we will either be rewarded or overlooked for our faithfulness or unfaithfulness. I tend to disagree a bit, I don't think God will hand out gold stars to the people who pleased him the most, I think he will be overjoyed to have us up there in heaven with him. We will all have to give accounts on our lives and why we did what we did. God already knows what we did, he knows it before we can think to do it, so it's not going to be of any surprise to him. He wants us to *look beyond this life* that we have on earth, it doesn't end here. Our beginning starts when our time here ends. He doesn't want us to look back and *see the opportunity we missed*. We shouldn't look at our time spent on this earth serving God as a *sacrifice, but an investment*.

Matthew 6: 20 "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (21) For where your treasure is, there is your heat also."

Discussion questions: ( from our small group)
1) Do you live for today or with the end in mind?
2) How often do you think about how you should live?
3) How do you feel about the account you will give for your life?
4) How should your life change since you will give an account for everything you do?

I want to be able to stand before God and all his angels and say after this day, I lived my life for you, the way you have called me to, because your are my heavenly father, my creator and my savior. I lived for you!