Even though it is something we must all face, many people are uncomfortable when talking about death. Anticipating death is not easy, even for those who believe in the hope of the resurrection. The certainty of death makes most people anxious. But as believers, we know that this is not an end, but that through Christ it is a beginning. The apostle Paul acknowledges these conflicting feelings when he states that “while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (v. 4).

Embodied life is part of God’s design for humanity. To exchange this “earthly tent” for a “heavenly dwelling,” which is “a building from God” and “an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands,” is the final move in our redemptive experience (vv. 1–2). It does not happen immediately upon death but is something that Paul associates with the events that attend Christ’s second coming and the final judgment (v. 10).

The remedy for the anxiety we feel about the prospect of temporary separation from bodily life comes from the confidence of our faith (vv. 6–8). Its foundation rests in the knowledge that for the Christian to be absent from the body is to be “at home with the Lord.” This hope energizes our service in the present. We are not complacent toward God but “make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it” (v. 9). The certainty of judgment to come produces a combination of love for God and others, mixed with healthy reverence, that is the prime motivation for sharing the gospel (vv. 11–15).

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