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.