The Earth Suit Wore Out

A dear friend of mine has moved. She's changed her address and I can't see her anymore. I can't talk to her or hug her. But I know that someday again, in the future, I will. You see, my friend's body has died. You could say passed on or went on to be with the Lord, but the truth is that her body has died; she hasn't.


 She's still alive, actually more alive now than ever before, and this move was one she was looking forward to. She was all ready; she told me so just a couple of days ago. She didn't have to pack any boxes, like you usually have to do for a move, but she had everything in order so when the call came that her new home was ready for her, she would be ready to go. 


2 Corinthians 5:7 tells us that we live by faith and not by sight. I can look at my friend's body laying in a casket and think that she's dead because I can see her body there but I live by faith and I know she did too. Because we have faith we know that, for the Believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and that's where she is now. Her soul is eternal and she is with God. 


When God created each of us in our mother's womb, He gave us each a soul that will live forever. He created a body for that soul to live in but a body wears out. If you think of an astronaut wearing a space suit, so he can live for a short time in outer space, it might make it easier. The suit doesn't define who the astronaut is, it's just something he has to wear when he is in space. Our bodies are something we wear which houses our soul. Our bodies are our earth suit and we don't need the earth suit when we reach Heaven anymore than an astronaut needs his space suit when he returns to earth. 


Ruth has laid down her earth suit because she didn't need it anymore. Philippians 3:20 tells us that our citizenship is in Heaven. We don't belong here on earth. We belong with our Father in Heaven. He has been creating Ruth's mansion for a long time now and over the past couple of weeks He has been putting the final touches on it. When it was completed He called her home.  


John 14:2-3 says: "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."


I know I will see Ruth again someday because I have put my trust in the Lord, like she did. I don't know if I will have to wait for my earth suit to wear out like hers did or if I will go in the Rapture, when Christ returns for His church, but either way I know for sure I will see my friend again.


You can have that same assurance of a home in Heaven too. When we confess our sins to the Lord and repent of those sins He will forgive us. When we believe in our hearts that He, Jesus Christ, is the One and Only Son of God, we become joint heirs with Him and have Heaven as an inheritance. Salvation is a gift that Holy God gave to sinful mankind but in order to benefit from any gift, we must first receive it. It is as simple as ABC:





A
—  Admit that you need a Savior.  Only 
people who realize they are lost can be 
saved.  Jesus said,  “They that be whole 
need not a physician, but they that are sick… I am 
not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”  (Matthew 9:12-13).
B
— Believe in the Lord Jesus.  “Believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be 
saved”  (Acts 16:31).  To believe on the Lord 
means that you  personally accept Him and His 
message and that you turn in repentance from 
your sins to follow Him.
C
— Confess Jesus before others. 
“Whosoever therefore shall confess me  
before men, him will I confess also before 
my Father which is in heaven.  But whosoever 
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny 
before my Father which is in heaven.”  (Matthew 
10:32-33)





Ruth lived her faith so all could see Who she had put her faith in. She asked my husband to preach a salvation message at her funeral and he will gladly do that for her. Ruth knew that without receiving the gift of salvation none of us could ever be with the Lord and she wanted her family and friends to know that too. 


I'm going to miss my friend but I know that we are apart for just awhile and that some day we will be together again. Do not be fooled by seeing a body and thinking the person is dead. We walk by faith not by sight. Don't let your eyes fool you. Ruth is very much alive and she's with Jesus!

2 Corinthians 5: 1-10 says: 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. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 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. 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.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 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.