2 Corinthians 5:1-10 - Absent From The Body And At Home With The Lord

¹ For I know, that if my body, which is but a tent for my sojourning upon earth, were dissolved, I have what is not fram'd by human art, but by the divine architect, a mansion eternal in the heavens. ² while I am thus incas'd, I groan with desire to have that celestial vehicle superinduc'd: ³ tho' should I be divested of this body, I shall not even then be destitute of one. ⁴ we that are in this tabernacle do groan under the burden of it: not that we desire to be divested of it, but we desire to have our celestial body, that this mortal state may vanish into immortality. ⁵ now he that hath prepared us for this very state, is God, who hath given us the spirit as a pledge of it.

⁶ therefore being always certainly assur'd that whilst I sojourn in this body, I am absent from the Lord, ⁷ (for I regulate my conduct by my future expectations, not by visible enjoyments: ⁸ ) in this assurance, I say, I think it best to be quit of this body, and be present with the Lord. ⁹ wherefore I studiously endeavour, whether staying in it, or departing out of it, to be acceptable to him. ¹⁰ for we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ; that every one may receive the retribution, according as his actions in the body were either good or evil.