Have an Eternal View

I am an alien.

I don't have green skin, antenna on my head and I don't fly a space ship.  Nonetheless, I am an alien to planet earth.  Earth is not my home.

As a believer in Jesus, I know that he is perparing a place for me so that I may join him also.  I also know I will live eternally - that means forever and ever and ever.

My home is in heaven.  I'm just passing through on earth.

That's hard to understand sometimes.  We are linear beings - that means everything has a beginning and end.  We start school and we graduate school.  We begin a new job and evenutally leave that job.  We're born and we die.  Everything we do has a starting point and an ending point.  Everything we do revolves around time.

God created time, and therefore, is not bound by it.  He exists outside of space and time and one day, we too will spend eternity with God, not limited by time.  I can't seem to wrap my mind around that concept, because I'm linear.  Everything I've known has a beginning and an end.  It can't imange life without end.

But, I believe it.  God teaches, through his Bible, that we long for our home - heaven.  It's a place created just for us and includes us getting new, perfectly suited bodies.  There will be no sin or pain or suffering.  And we live forever.

God works based on a view of eternity.  He wants us to have an eternal view as well.  To think about forever, not just tomorrrow.  To focus on heaven, not just this existence. 

When we start living our lives and making our decisions based on the eternal viewpoint, we start seeing things in a whole new way.  It means we focus on Christ, not just ourselves.

Afterall, we are aliens.  We're just passing through.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Devotion to a false god

Image
Last week, at Disney World, I went to retrieve our stroller from the stroller parking section.  As I searched among the hundred or so strollers, I finally found mine and started to move it.  As I pulled, it snagged on a woman's garment.  Panicked, I looked up and saw it was a Muslim women in full Muslin dress.  Her body was completely covered.  Only a slit for her eyes was visible.  I was careful not to yank, and I tried to apologize as the hook of the handle caught part of her garment.  She didn't say a word and we both quietly went on our ways. As I walked away, I felt pity on her.  For one, it's Disney World in June in Florida.  I strode along in shorts and a very thin T-shirt.  Both were soaked in sweat.  I had already consumed two bottles of water and still felt weary.  She was dressed head to toe in heavy garments.  I can't imagine how hot she was pushing a stroller with two kids through a mass of people in hum...
Read more

Bearing Responsbility

Image
I remember when my daughter was first born. Amid the excitement and joy came an overwhelming feeling.  This baby, which I held in my hands, was now my responsibility.  When she got sick, needed feeding, required a diaper change, or had to be corrected and taught, those responsibilities fell to me as her father.  In a matter of a few minutes, I had been entrusted with a new life on planet earth. Looking back on that day six years ago, I was excited but scared.  Yet, that is nothing compared to the responsibility Joesph must have felt.  Joseph was a righteous man, according to scripture, and he knew one thing for certain - Jesus was not his biological son.  Thus, he planned to divorce Mary quietly and be rid of the whole matter. And before we vilify Joseph, know that he could have done much worse.  By law, Mary could have been stoned to death.  His divorce was a form of mercy.  She would live and he would be rid of the stigma of an unfait...
Read more

Following Jesus' Example

Jesus was not a convential man. Often, when Jesus taught, he challenged the status quo.  He also liked to use object lessons and parables to illustrate his points about faith and a relationship with God. One night after dinner, during the last week of his life before the resurrection, he finished eating, took off his outer garment, grabbed a towel and started to wash the disciples' feet. Stunned, Peter protested, but Jesus said it had to be done.  He had to allow Jesus, his rabbi, his teacher, his Lord, to become a servant and wash Peter's dirty, worn feet.  So he did.  Jesus washed all their feet that night.  Then he said:  You need to do this too. Too often in Christianity today, there is an attitude of moral superiority.  We love to build beautiful church buildings, boast of our attendance, brag about our programs and talk about the money we give.  At the same time, we turn our nose up to the alcoholics and drug addicts and homeless and...
Read more