Ever feel like you just need a little perspective, an anchor point amid life’s struggles? Do you ever feel the need to get to the crest of a mountain where you can take a deep breath and elevate your mind and spirit above the crud of day-to-day life? The apostle Paul gives us just such a summit in II Corinthians 5:1:

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

This sentence comes smack in the middle of a string of five sentences which begin with the word “For” (in the English Standard Version of the Bible).  Usually when we see “For” at the beginning of a sentence it means that a significant statement of truth is to follow–a truth which gives cause or explanation to other things which come before and/or after it. Here are the 5 sentences beginning in II Cor. 4:17 with 5:1 in bold:

• (4:17) For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, (4:18) as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.
• For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
• (5:1) For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
• (5:2) For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, (5:3) if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.
• (5:4) For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened–not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

There’s one word found in 5:1 that sets it apart (and above) the preceding and succeeding statements. If you look at each sentence carefully you can see how 5:1 gives meaning and explanation to the other four. The first two rise in increasing significance and the last two sentences descend gradually from 5:1 back down into the thick of everyday life where, as Paul says in 5:6-7:  “…we are always of good courage…walking by faith, not by sight.”

So, what’s that one word that distinguishes 5:1 as the high-point above the others? It’s “know.” This word isn’t found in any of the other four statements and it’s function here is incredibly important. In each of the other four sentences Paul, talks about things that we all see and experience tangibly every day in our mortal bodies: “affliction”, the “transience” of earthly things, “groanings” of our bodies, and “burdens”, but he doesn’t introduce these things by saying, for example: “For we know…we experience afflictions”, etc; he doesn’t have to! It’s assumed that his readers already “know” these things because they experience them on a daily basis. He only uses “know” to introduce a reality that is attainable only by means of faith, not by sight or touch: the reality of a future, eternal body (“building”) from God, not made with human hands.

So, is it possible to “know” something with certainty that can only be seen and embraced by faith? According to Paul’s words in the sentence just before 5:1, these “unseen” realities are actually the things that are truly permanent. This is why Paul uses the word “know”, because it entails a conclusiveness, a firmness, a deep assurance, a certainty that a thing is real or true. Paul is absolutely convinced (by faith) of the reality of his heavenly home, and this is why he doesn’t say: “For we think… we have a building from God…” but rather, “We know“!

While Knowing that God has prepared eternal bodies for those of us who believe in Christ may not do away with the presence of suffering and the possibility of stumbling, it does have the effect of pushing the undesirable things of earthly life off to the side and elevating us to a place where we can focus on that most desirable reality of a future, eternal, glorious reunion with our Savior! Knowing also has the power to validate and give meaning to the sufferings and struggles we face while on earth, and not only that, but it gives us courage as we journey back down from the summit into the challenges of life.