PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE AUTHOR : RICK WARREN DAY 4 (Evening) This life is preparation for the next When you live in light of eternity, your values change. You use your time and money more wisely. You place a higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame or wealth or achievements or even fun. Your priorities are reordered. Keeping up with trends, fashions, and popular values just doesnt matter as much anymore. Paul said, I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. If your time on earth were all there is to your life, I would suggest you start living it up immediately. You could forget being good and ethical, and you wouldnt have to worry about any consequences of your actions. You could indulge yourself in total self-centeredness because your actions would have no long-term repercussions. But-and this makes all the difference-death is not the end of you! Death is not your termination, but your transition into eternity, so there are eternal consequences to everything you do on earth. Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity. The most damaging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking. To make the most of your life, you must keep the vision of eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. Theres far more to life than just here and now! Today is the visible tip of the iceberg. Eternity is all the rest you dont see underneath the surface. What is it going to be like in eternity with God? Frankly, the capacity of our brains cannot handle the wonder and greatness of heaven. It would be like trying to describe the Internet to an ant. Its futile. Words have not been invented that could possibly convey the experience of eternity. The Bible says, No mere man has ever seen, heard or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord. However, God has given us glimpses of eternity in his Word. We know that right now God is preparing an eternal home for us. In heaven we will be reunited with loved ones who are believers, released from all pain and suffering, rewarded for our faithfulness on earth, and reassigned to do work that DAY FOUR: we will enjoy doing. We wont lie around on clouds with halos playing harps! We will enjoy unbroken fellowship with God, and he will enjoy us for an unlimited, endless forever. One day Jesus will say, Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. C. S. Lewis captured the concept of eternity on the last page of the Chronicles of Narnia, his seven-book childrens fiction series: For us this is the end of all the stories.... But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world ... had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before. God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesnt end here. His plan involves far more than the few decades you will spend on this planet. Its more than the opportunity of a lifetime; God offers you an opportunity beyond your lifetime. The Bible says, [Gods] plans endure forever; his purposes last eternally. The only time most people think about eternity is at funerals, and then its often shallow, sentimental thinking, based on ignorance. You may feel its morbid to think about death, but actually its unhealthy to live in denial of death and not consider what is inevitable. Only a fool would go through life unprepared for what we all know will eventually happen. You need to think more about eternity, not less. Just as the nine months you spent in your mothers womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for life, so this life is preparation for the next. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you dont need to fear death. It is the door to eternity. It will be the last hour of your time on earth, but it wont be the last of you. Rather than being the end of your life, it will be your birthday into eternal life. The Bible says, This world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven. When you live in light of eternity, your values change. Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever. The deeds of this life are the destiny of the next. We should be realizing that every moment we spend in these earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home in heaven with Jesus. Years ago a popular slogan encouraged people to live each day as the first day of the rest of your life. Actually, it would be wiser to live each day as if it were the last day of your life. Matthew Henry said, It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our final day. DAY FOUR THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE Point to Ponder: There is more to life than just here and now. Verse to Remember: This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever: 1 John 2:17 (NLT) Question to Consider: Since I was made to last forever, what is the one thing I should stop doing and the one thing I should start doing today
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 21:16:09 +0000
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