Everybody knows what it feels like to not have time for everything they want to do. There are so many books to read, movies to watch, places to explore, music to listen to, games to play, food to discover, not to mention all the things you need to get done at work and at home. Time feels like an enemy, always parceling out JUST enough minutes in the day or days in the week to get some things done, but not all of it.
Because of this constant constraint, we often times have to make some tough choices about what we do with our time, especially when it comes between serving others and serving ourselves. When someone asks us to come on the only Saturday that we’re completely free and help chop wood for those who need wood for winter, that stack of TV shows in our digital video recorder reminds us of shows that we haven’t yet watched. When a ministry is organizing a fundraiser and are looking for help in the evenings, the pile of books on our bedside stand calls out to us. When God calls us, we remember all the things we want to do first, saying “We don’t have time to do both.” We tend to say to God, “We’ll do what we want now and you’ll have us for the rest of eternity.”
We’re mistaken and shortsighted if we think that the time that we’ve lost here on earth “for ourselves” will be forever lost. Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven (have I convinced you yet to read this book?), opened my eyes to these wonderful bible verses in Luke 14:13-14 in where Jesus says (emphasis is mine): “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
In my shortsightedness, I hadn’t made the connection between the well-known “store your treasures in Heaven” verses in Matthew 6:19-21 to the idea of being repaid for our service to those who need it as seen in the verses in Luke above until now. I had always thought of the verses in Matthew in tithing terms. While it does also apply to our tithe, it applies to much more. We’re all workers for Christ and God is asking us to spend the short time we have here on earth on building God’s kingdom and serving others. Not only will we be paid for our time and work, but we will also get our invested time back. Mr. Alcorn writes, “By giving up various pleasures, possessions, and power now, we will obtain them in the next world … It’s not only virtuous for us to make sacrifices for the needy now; it’s also wise.” In the eternal Heaven, time will no longer be an enemy since it’ll stretch out for all of eternity, never ending. We’ll have all the time in the world to read all the books we want, listen to all the music we want, explore all the places we want, discover all the food we want, and work and play and much, much more.
Once we understand that our lives in Heaven will be a continuation of our lives, culture and history here, but completely sinless, eternal and always God-glorifying, it should reshape our priorities right now. Think about it. If there’s a wonderful book that we never got around to reading because we were always busy serving, we might get a chance to read that book again in Heaven and have all the time in the world to do so! If the shows we watch, the music we listen to, the books we read, and anything that we spend our time doing won’t make it to Heaven because it doesn’t glorify God, is it something we ought to be doing here?
Makes the decision to go out and chop wood much easier, doesn’t it?
– Matt
continueculturedecisioneternityGodheavenkingdomLukeMatthewRandy Alcornserveserve otherstimeworkers
Planning Our Time Now For Eternity
October 1, 2009
Calvary
Comments Off on Planning Our Time Now For Eternity
Matt
Everybody knows what it feels like to not have time for everything they want to do. There are so many books to read, movies to watch, places to explore, music to listen to, games to play, food to discover, not to mention all the things you need to get done at work and at home. Time feels like an enemy, always parceling out JUST enough minutes in the day or days in the week to get some things done, but not all of it.
Because of this constant constraint, we often times have to make some tough choices about what we do with our time, especially when it comes between serving others and serving ourselves. When someone asks us to come on the only Saturday that we’re completely free and help chop wood for those who need wood for winter, that stack of TV shows in our digital video recorder reminds us of shows that we haven’t yet watched. When a ministry is organizing a fundraiser and are looking for help in the evenings, the pile of books on our bedside stand calls out to us. When God calls us, we remember all the things we want to do first, saying “We don’t have time to do both.” We tend to say to God, “We’ll do what we want now and you’ll have us for the rest of eternity.”
We’re mistaken and shortsighted if we think that the time that we’ve lost here on earth “for ourselves” will be forever lost. Randy Alcorn, in his book Heaven (have I convinced you yet to read this book?), opened my eyes to these wonderful bible verses in Luke 14:13-14 in where Jesus says (emphasis is mine): “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
In my shortsightedness, I hadn’t made the connection between the well-known “store your treasures in Heaven” verses in Matthew 6:19-21 to the idea of being repaid for our service to those who need it as seen in the verses in Luke above until now. I had always thought of the verses in Matthew in tithing terms. While it does also apply to our tithe, it applies to much more. We’re all workers for Christ and God is asking us to spend the short time we have here on earth on building God’s kingdom and serving others. Not only will we be paid for our time and work, but we will also get our invested time back. Mr. Alcorn writes, “By giving up various pleasures, possessions, and power now, we will obtain them in the next world … It’s not only virtuous for us to make sacrifices for the needy now; it’s also wise.” In the eternal Heaven, time will no longer be an enemy since it’ll stretch out for all of eternity, never ending. We’ll have all the time in the world to read all the books we want, listen to all the music we want, explore all the places we want, discover all the food we want, and work and play and much, much more.
Once we understand that our lives in Heaven will be a continuation of our lives, culture and history here, but completely sinless, eternal and always God-glorifying, it should reshape our priorities right now. Think about it. If there’s a wonderful book that we never got around to reading because we were always busy serving, we might get a chance to read that book again in Heaven and have all the time in the world to do so! If the shows we watch, the music we listen to, the books we read, and anything that we spend our time doing won’t make it to Heaven because it doesn’t glorify God, is it something we ought to be doing here?
Makes the decision to go out and chop wood much easier, doesn’t it?
– Matt
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