So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.  (7) For we walk by faith, not by sight.  (8) We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. (9) Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.  (10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

The Apostle Paul wrote the second letter to the Corinthians.  In chapter four Paul wrote about our outer man decaying, aging and our inner man being transformed. Paul writes about his suffering – stoned, lashed, imprisoned – as light affliction when compared to the eternal weight of glory which awaits the faithful. (C.S. Lewis wrote a wonderful piece called the Weight of Glory which beautifully depicts this).

Our verses today tell us that we are all mortal and our true home is in heaven earned by the sacrifice of the cross.  This life is but a shadow of what is to come and reality is not of this world but rather what is unseen except through faith. heaven is where our treasure lies.

Therefore we want to be pleasing to God.  How?  It is by our faith, not our works that we are saved.  Jesus told us that we are to believe in Him and our faith will result in righteousness.  Paul tells us that the faithful are those serving God in heart and deed and these will be praised by God – so the transformed man/woman whose belief guides their behavior will please God.  Those who do not, have not, trusted in Christ – in his death, burial and resurrection must be judged by their deeds.  We are either saved on the basis of the works of Christ or we are judged according to our own works.  Clearly our own works do not please God and are the basis for the condemnation of lost souls.

Paul is saying we are uncomfortable in this body – in this world – we are unfulfilled, incomplete, imperfect, and miserable.  Life here is debilitating, aging and corrupting.  Fear of death is for the unbeliever but the faithful who trust in the person and works of Christ change this.  In faith in Christ we are transformed – with real faith it cannot be otherwise, and the new man pleases God.