This morning driving to work I got a realisation - one of those moments when something you've known in your head all your life suddenly becomes crystal clear and make sense in your heart.
Eternity is what really matters.
I was listening to music and just got to the line
"Care less you think if I'm dope.
I could have the freshest rhyme flow.
I could have the dopest live show.
Without Him, don't mean a thing, so...." (Do Yo Thang - KJ-52)
Now, never mind if you life aspiration is not to be a rapper and be 'dope' with a 'fresh flow' and 'dope live shows'....the point of it is, all our aspirations and life goals don't mean a thing without God.
Eternity is what really matters.
We get so caught up in the business and busyness of living our day to day lives that I think we often forget this vital point.
We can't take it with us. The things we strive for on earth are really insubstantial, temporary and fleeting. We worry so much about them, but in the end we can't take it with us. We might work all our lives and store up fame, money, possessions coming out our ears - but then we die and what does it all count for then? That's when we have to deal with eternity - then all that stuff we had on earth really means nothing.
And yet we worry so much about our physical lives, and spend so much of our time focussing on them.
It must be so much worse for those who don't believe in God and don't know there is an eternity waiting for them. Acquiring things, searching for something to make them happy, fulfilled - to make life seem meaningful consumes us. And destroys us.
Because there is NOTHING in our earthly life that can make life meaningful. Anything , no matter how good it my seem to us, without God it is worthless. Pointless. Empty.
It's like when you have a bad nights sleep because you were tossing and turning worrying about things, and all things you had to get done the next day were even invading your dreams. You wake up in the morning feeling anxious and stressed and overwhelmed.
Then, when the bad dreams dissolve away, when you actually look clearly at what you have to get done, or at the problems you were worried about, they turn out to be not so bad.
In the middle of the night all our worries are amplified because we're half asleep, thoughts become large and all out of perspective in dream land, and we're consumed with it because there's nothing else to think about but our problems.
The night time is like life on earth - it's right in front of us, dominating our thoughts. And so those daily things become everything. But we forget what we should be really focussing on.
Eternity.
It's like waking up. And then everything falls back into perspective and we see what really matters. This life is temporary - we're visitors here. Our real life is when we are with Him in heaven for eternity.
Sleeping to waking.
Sleep walking to living.
Death to LIFE.
When I was younger I used to imagine that the life I thought I was living was really one big dream, and one day I was going to wake up into my real life. I'd wake up and find that my real life was completely different to the one I had thought I was living while I was actually dreaming.
It wasn't until later that I realised that my childish imagination wasn't so far off the truth!
What are you storing up for yourself? Are life's troubles, the world's goals and aims, possessions, money...are these things consuming your thoughts, taking your eyes off the real goal?
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6: 19-21
When you 'wake up' and find that all the physical things around you that you thought were so important have disappeared, what is going to be left? A fleeting memory of an insubstantial life and whole pile of 'stuff' that is now worthless. Or the comfort, and peace, and real, lasting joy of a relationship with God, no matter how difficult or troubled the path was.
'There your heart will be also'. When we see everything in the light of Heaven, our troubles and worries on earth seem so small. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things on earth become strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace." (My favourite hymn). So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 1 Peter 1:6
Don't conform, be transformed. (Romans 12:2) Don't worry that everyone else is concerned and consumed with worldly things. You don't want to miss out on eternity with God because you were too worried about fitting in for a few years on earth.
So, in the words of KJ-52, 'Care less you think if I'm dope....Without God it don't mean a thing, so bring it....Go ahead and just do yo thang'.
:)
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