Thursday, April 29, 2004
40 Days of Purpose Day 4
We are made to last forever
"God planted eternity in our hearts." Ecclesiates 3:11. This life is not all there is. No, its not the Shirley McLaine version, where eternity is an un-specified round of reincarnation, eternity with God is forever with God. Here on Earth, we are just preparing for eternity, it is the practice round, the dress rehearsal. This life is preparation for the next.
While life here offers many choices, eternity offers only two; heaven and hell. Your relationship to God on this earth determines your relationship to Him in eternity. When you learn to love and trust God's Son, Jesus, you will be invited to spend the rest of your eternity with Him. On the other hand, if you reject Him, you will spend that eternity apart from God and His love.
Rick Warren states that when you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just the here and now, and you relize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently. Living a life in the light of eternity will color how you handle every relationship, task and circumstance. Suddenly, many activities, goals and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty and unworthy of your attention. The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.
Most of the time, we think of eternity at funerals, and you may find that talking about death is morbid or strange. It is unhealthy to live in denial of death and not consider what is inevitable. We would be foolish to think otherwise, since we know that there is an eternity that awaits us. And that is why we change in the light of eternity; realizing that all we do has a much longer term effect on us; we are preparing for eternity, and not just the end of our life on earth.
1st John 2:17 says, "This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever." Ponder this: There is more to life than just your here and now.
Next: Seeing life from God's view.
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"God planted eternity in our hearts." Ecclesiates 3:11. This life is not all there is. No, its not the Shirley McLaine version, where eternity is an un-specified round of reincarnation, eternity with God is forever with God. Here on Earth, we are just preparing for eternity, it is the practice round, the dress rehearsal. This life is preparation for the next.
While life here offers many choices, eternity offers only two; heaven and hell. Your relationship to God on this earth determines your relationship to Him in eternity. When you learn to love and trust God's Son, Jesus, you will be invited to spend the rest of your eternity with Him. On the other hand, if you reject Him, you will spend that eternity apart from God and His love.
Rick Warren states that when you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just the here and now, and you relize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently. Living a life in the light of eternity will color how you handle every relationship, task and circumstance. Suddenly, many activities, goals and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty and unworthy of your attention. The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.
Most of the time, we think of eternity at funerals, and you may find that talking about death is morbid or strange. It is unhealthy to live in denial of death and not consider what is inevitable. We would be foolish to think otherwise, since we know that there is an eternity that awaits us. And that is why we change in the light of eternity; realizing that all we do has a much longer term effect on us; we are preparing for eternity, and not just the end of our life on earth.
1st John 2:17 says, "This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever." Ponder this: There is more to life than just your here and now.
Next: Seeing life from God's view.
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