We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8)

Paul said there is a confidence, a preferable state beyond this life. There is a certain power possessed by the believer who is confident about his or her status at death: The believer is both absent and present at the same time. Absent from earth and present with the Lord. It is a confidence that requires faith to embrace in this life, what one has never experienced.

Yet therein is the rub. The invisible is obscured by the visible; the unknown by the known. What is it like to exist in full consciousness and yet disembodied? This is the reality of the intermediate period between the believer’s physical death and resurrection. I often say when teaching on this, some people want to be here until the resurrection, but I personally want the whole experience.

And the flesh hinders so much more than an embrace of the Apostle’s words. We lack the freedom from fear, the power of boldness, and the reward of the fruitfulness of usefulness.  Paul literally oozed of this mentality when he was warned by the prophet Agabus that imprisonment awaited him if he journeyed to Jerusalem. His reply, “I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” The pen of a songwriter pondered the disembodied experience,

Surrounded by Your glory
What will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus
Or in awe of You be still
I can only imagine

Oh to be so spiritually endowed by confidence as to live this verse. Oh to long for tomorrow more than today. To be absolutely free from death’s grip right now, and endowed to bear spiritual fruit with thoughtless boldness for Christ.  To fearlessly face death, empowered by longing for the immediate presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yuri Solomon holds degrees from Gospel Ministry Outreach Theological Institute and the College of Biblical Studies. He is author of the book Biblical Masculinity. More info @ www.wordtalkonline.org