Sunday, October 16, 2011

Living Life With An Eye On Heaven

What was the most popular song in your country in 1990? Who was the wealthiest person in the world in 1995? Who won the Miss Universe beauty pageant in 2000? Who won the men’s Olympic gold medal in the marathon in 2004? Who is Secretary General of the United Nations?

Don’t worry, if you didn’t know the answers to these questions. It’s not a test to see how intelligent we are, but it could be telling us something else. It could mean that the things that the world says are most important may not really be.  Money, power, success, beauty, and fame. They are definitely part of our world, but could it be that we’ve believed a lie.


When Jesus Christ communicated what really matters in our world he summarized it by saying “Love God and love people.”

Some will disagree with that. They will say, “the real world is more complicated than that.” You can’t make it that simple. How about education, and paying rent, and finding a job, buying a house, all the other stuff in our world? Jesus was not saying that all those things are sinful. He was just saying that when it’s all over the only thing that will matter is how we’ve related with God and how we’ve related with people.

God’s Word calls this life a mist. A vapor. He knows that this life is only the beginning. This life is only the introduction for what we were truly created for. We were created for something so much more than making a house payment, keeping a job, getting a car, searching for a mate, or a thousand other things that we spend our time doing. Do what you need to do, but never forget that this is only the beginning. God sees our world from an eternal perspective, and He knows that the only things that will last are God and people. So He speaks to us with His eye on heaven. He views our world from a heavenly perspective.

Have you taken your eye off the reward? Are you living in discontentment today? You aren't satisfied with you ministry position? There are people in the ministry that you are involved with who are making your life difficult? You still haven't found that godly help-mate that you've been waiting for all these years? You wish your church would pay you what you deserve.

Remember that this life is only a preparation for what is to come. Will you receive whatever is happening in your life today as a gift from God? Will you let God work it for the good in your life. In the midst of your struggle will you let God be your "Sufficient One." It is only in our poverty can we know Him as the Provider. It is only in illness will experience Him as the Great Physician. It is only in the midst of the unknown that we can find Him to be our Almighty Counselor. It is in the present that we come to know the Christ whom we will one day meet face to face. 

May we embrace our life situation today and take from it all God has for us. Hold your joy high, out of the reach of the world around you. May Christ be the source of your contentment regardless of what is going on around you. Rest in Christ. Heaven will be here soon enough.

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