II Corinthians 5: 6-11
(6) Therefore, being always of good courage,
Having confidence in the promise of God in the earnest of His Spirit (yesterday).
and 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--
We are absent from the Lord in that we don't see Him with our eyes, only by faith.
(8) we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.
We are confident that when we leave these bodies we will be at home with the Lord, which will be much better than our life here.
(9) Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
We all should have as our highest ambition that everything we do would be what He would have us to be doing, no matter how mundane or ordinary. So whether we are living here in our bodies, or are gone to be with the Lord, we want to be pleasing to Him.
(10) For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
This is the Judgment Seat of Christ, our Judge, the Bema Seat for rewards, where He will have rewards for each one of us; some more, some less (see The Judgement Seat Of Christ For Rewards and Our Great Prize).
(11) Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord ...
Knowing that Jesus will be our Judge should give us a healthy fear, a deep respect for His authority and righteousness, to encourage us to live our lives according to His ways.
O my Father, help us to always consider You in everything we do, whether we are doing mundane, everyday, ordinary things, or we're serving formally or informally, or shopping, or working, or whatever we're doing, that we would do it for Your glory, praising You for the ability to do it.
Show us how to love one another as You have Loved us, knowing each one of us, and meeting all of our personal needs, as well as our eternal needs. Help us to discern the best way to minister to the needs of those we encounter, to be Christ to them.
And not because we want to be rewarded, Father. Let us love You, and may Your Love for us be our motivation to serve those You Love, because You Love them.
And when Jesus returns, may we be surprised at the rewards He has for us. And thankful and grateful for all You have done for us. Because You are the one doing it all, just using us as Your hands and feet.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
