LIVING IN LIGHT OF ETERNITY
"Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day
of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat?" - 2 Peter 3:11-12
We
tend to hold our possessions too tightly.
We act as if we will live forever here on earth. As a result, we have wrong priorities.
Think
about it for a moment. One hundred
years from now, if this world continues on, someone else will either inhabit
the house you live in or it will be gone.
Fifty years from now, the property you own will belong to someone else. Just twenty years from now, your car will
probably be demolished and used for scrap metal.
Ultimately,
this world will undergo changes as a result of God's judgment. The fact of this impending judgment should
clear our minds and sharpen our focus.
The Apostle Peter stated it this way, "Seeing then that
all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to
be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be
dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" Global warming will occur ... and God will
cause it to happen.
Realizing
that time is running out and judgment is coming, we should consider two things:
1. THE FUTUILITY OF EARTHLY THINGS
First
of all, we need to properly understand the futility of earthly things. Everything on earth is temporary. Your career is temporary. Your fishing boat is temporary. Your IRA is temporary. One day it will all go up in smoke.
In
his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote, "While we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things
which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are
eternal." Most humans have not
grasped the truth that Paul shared in this verse. We are so focused on the visible things that eternal matters pass
us by. The visible things, such as
buildings, automobiles & expensive toys are all temporal. One day they will be gone. Yet we zealously live for these things,
failing to recognize that these possessions will soon pass away. On the other hand, we woefully neglect
eternal matters ... things that really matter most.
A
great example of this is work. It is
not wrong to work. In fact, we are
expected to work. The Bible commends work. However, you need to have
the right perspective. Your job should
not be your life. Like it or not, you
are a temporary employee. Someday
either the job will end or you will leave it.
Far too many people live and breathe work. Their job consumes them.
One day they wake up to find that their children are grown and the
spouse is like a stranger. When we
treat the temporal things like they are eternal & eternal things like they
are temporal, we ultimately pay a steep price.
Everything
on earth is temporary. Act like it. Live like it.
2. THE FINALITY OF ETERNAL THINGS
I
know that many will consider my thoughts to be morbid and fatalistic. The fact is that life on earth is
temporary. The Bible teaches that there
are eternal things. You will either
spend eternity in heaven with God or, regrettably, in hell. Too many live like the devil but hope for
heaven by and by. They live selfishly,
to the neglect of their own souls. Only
faith in Christ can change a person's heart and give them access to
heaven.
When
we comprehend the truth that one day everything we see will burn, it should
cause us to live soberly, living with eternity in mind.
It
is possible to have your feet on the earth and your heart in heaven. You can live for God in the here-and-now and
long for heaven in the hereafter. As
Christians, we are just strangers and pilgrims here. We are ambassadors for Christ, stationed in this foreign land to
aid our fellow brethren. Although we
are stationed here on earth, our citizenship is in heaven. We long to be called home from this
assignment.
When
I see our world get so violent and wicked, I am reminded that this is not my
home. Furthermore, when I feel the
aches and pains of my body worsen with age, I am comforted that I don't have to
dwell in this body forever. Very soon
I'll have a better body & I'll be living in a better country.
It
is easy to get distracted by the temporal things of this world. That is why we need to read the Bible daily,
pray and fellowship with other believers consistently. These things help us to keep focused on the
things that matter most.
While
we live, work and enjoy life in this temporal land, we need to keep our faith
focused on eternal matters, things that are unseen. We need to invest in eternal matters. They pay eternal dividends.
We
need to live with eternity in mind.