18 Bible Verses about Absence

we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.

You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

For I am afraid that perhaps when I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance, disturbances;

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,

But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face.

But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!

Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present.