…For we are the temple of the living God.

As God said:

“I will live in them

and walk among them.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

2 Corinthians 6:16

…we know that as long as we live in these bodies

we are not at home with the Lord.

…and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies,

for then we will be at home with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:6, 8

(Old Town Hall fresco with trompe d’oeil architecture in Bamberg, Germany on Regnitz River. Kayaker’s markers hang over water)

But the Scriptures declare

that we are all prisoners of sin,

so we receive God’s promise of freedom

only by believing in Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:22

(Vienna Boy’s Choir entrance into the Imperial Chapel of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria)

…Christ lives in me.

So I live in this earthly body 

by trusting in the Son of God,

who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

(Auersperg Palace–Vienna, Austria. Mozart performed here at age 6)

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now;

rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.

For the things we see now will soon be gone,

but the things we cannot see will last forever.

2 Corinthians 4:18

We now have this light shining in our hearts,

but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars

containing this great treasure.

This makes it clear that our great power is from God,

not from ourselves.

2 Corinthians 4:7

For God says,

“At just the right time, I heard you.

On the day of salvation, I helped you.”

Indeed, the “right time” is now.

Today is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:2

For God made Christ,

who never sinned,

to be the offering for our sin,

so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21

(Sandor Palace in Budapest, Hungary)

…these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.

God himself has prepared us for this,

and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:4-5

(Shoe memorial beside the Danube River in Budapest, Hungary)

For we know that when this earthly tent

we live in is taken down 

(that is, when we die and leave this earthly body),

we will have a house in heaven,

an eternal body made for us by God himself

and not by human hands.

2 Corinthians 5:1

(Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest, Hungary)