“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24)
We were watching a documentary on the longevity of life with focus on two vastly different cultures … and yet in many ways the very same. Cultures where the Centenarians occur with ongoing frequency.
Then came the commercial … a pause … and it was then that she said it, “You know, I’m finding myself needing less and less!” Boom! It hit me right between the eyes and I found myself wrestling with that thought early the next morning.
And like Jacob after his wrestling experience with an angel of the Lord … as he started back on his journey with a new name, new purpose, and a new reminder of the need to always stay humble before God … my own heart began to think about what I had seen the night before and what I heard spoken!
Hopefully, each one of us realizes that life on earth is temporary and at best is short when compared to the infinite existence of eternity! You do believe in eternity, don’t you?
It is difficult for most if not all of us to comprehend the reality of eternity. Yet, the wise man tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:11 that “… God has placed eternity in our hearts …” To understand this wonderful thought is to come to a place in one’s life where the things of this life are not all that important!
God’s purpose for each of our lives from before the beginning of time as we know it … has been for us to find the meaning of satisfaction … purpose … value! And He created us in such a way that absolutely nothing can fill that place in our hearts except Him!
One effort to help in visualizing just how short our time on this earth really is compared to living in eternity, imagine a string of yearn wrapped all the way around the world. Our life is so brief that if just a single dot was placed anywhere along that yarn with a marker of some sort … that would be the visual of the brevity of life. Or as James writes, “…What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14)
To put all of this in a proper perspective … you and I can make the choice to focus on that little black dot on the string as our understanding and meaning to life, or we can choose the better focus … understanding of the little black dot considering the rest of the miles and miles of string! Assurance can be given that living with eternity in mind can/will lead to joy … both in this life and in the next!
When Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who had always been with the Father entered our world as a human, He had a purpose. In His own words Jesus Christ stated His purpose for coming to this world, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10) This was planned from before the beginning of the world. He could see what His death and resurrection would accomplish. Jesus declared that He was “the way and the truth and the life and that no one could come to the Father except through Him.” (John 14:6).
We should take the words of Jesus seriously as He spoke about the eternal frequently including heaven and hell. Are we living with a view of eternity? Are we living as though Christ could come today?
For the wise there is a view which reaches beyond the immediate concerns of today. That view is eternity. It is this view, the Biblical view, the view Jesus Christ spoke of so often … that comes with hope and warning – and we need to heed both!
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18)
Bill Fairchild, Jr.
Satan’s greatest success is in making people think they have plenty of time before they die to consider their eternal welfare.
– John Owen
No comments yet.