We live in an interesting age, don’t we? We have gadgets and gizmos galore that supposedly exist to make our lives easier and more efficient. CEO’s of large corporations bring home salaries that are “gross” compared to what the workers in those companies are given. The stock markets are at record highs while time with our children, our spouses, our Creator, or even for ourselves dwindles down year by year.
Of course, I’m talking mostly about Western Christianity. But it seems that we have forgotten to live as we are encouraged by Scripture to live. We’re not just talking about family neglect and workaholism and greed, though these are a few of the bigger factors we have to contend with. In reality there are many other symptoms, factors and warning signs that we have stopped living in light of eternity.
After all it’s easy for us to say that since we don’t fit into one of those three categories that we’re doing alright in our Christian walks. We attend church regularly, give our tithes, go to mid-week Bible studies, and listen to the latest worship music; we mind what we watch, say and hear, keeping our tuners set on Christian stations; we lead our home group Bible-studies, teach Sunday classes and visit our pastor’s blog on a regular basis. But is that living in light of eternity?
Jesus told us:
“Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. . . . Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42, 44, NKJV).
And Paul wrote:
“For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2, NKJV).
John told the church that even his lifetime was considered “the last hour” (1 John 2:18, NKJV).
But here we sit, two thousand years removed from the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, with reprint after reprint, version after version of the Scriptures, hundreds of denominations and sects with various rules, freedoms, and creeds, and we have lost sight of the goal. We lost sight of eternity, its impact on our lives and those around, and how we should not only have chosen our eternal home, but that we should live as if eternity is dependent upon us.
I’m not saying that we should neglect our responsibilities, or our families, or those who rely on us. But, we should be utilizing every possible moment, every God-given talent, every interpersonal interaction, every absorption of media, and every dispense of our energies to make an impact for eternity. You may be wondering if this even possible, given some of what we do day after day. But I assure, everything that we see/hear, every word we speak, and action we perform makes an impact, for better or worse, on eternity.
So I’m going to take a series of posts, for however long I can keep going, to get us thinking about the following:
- That our daily lives have eternal consequences;
- That our present lives are a training ground for our eternal lives; and
- That we should yearn for eternity as we occupy this earth.
Chris MacKinnon 