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Thinking about eternity
Pastor Pat Duffin
South Peace News
The Internet is an amazing demonstration of the ingenuity of man. Like a living organism it pulsates with ideas, images and even money coursing through its electronic networks.
While often polluted with toxic waste from the baser social uses, it also transcends to the finest of human action and bestows wonderful gifts of art, science, literature and discourse.
One of my favourite uses is to travel to exotic and otherwise inaccessible places. Sitting in the comfort of my living room I engage in cordial, wrestling matches with chess opponents in England, Denmark, Turkey and Australia. Then I journey back in time to the ancient Roman streets of Herculaneum where the buildings and artifacts are perfectly preserved from the day they were entombed by the volcanic convulsions of Mount Vesuvius.
With a simple click of the mouse I leap into outer space and contemplate the mind-boggling images emanating from the Hubble Deep-Space Telescope, my eyes feasting on the glorious prospect of thousands of galaxies confined into an area of sky smaller than that of a postage stamp. The wonders of man and the wonders of God conjoin in magnificent testimony to the infinite immensity and power of God and I am left to worship with renewed appreciation for my Creator.
In addition to keeping up with current events in the world, the Internet also serves to connect me with family and friends in new ways never imagined 20 years ago. Everyday my in-box overflows with the digital effluvium of crass cupidity that unceasingly circulates the Net.
But, buried in the sludge of worthless spam are precious nuggets of joy from people I care about and who care about me. Photos, greetings, news and views warm the heart with an immediate interconnectedness that old-fashioned snail-mail could never supply. Sometimes I laugh. Sometimes I cry. Sometimes I am provoked to indignation over events in people’s lives.
And sometimes I am moved to reflect and pray.
I am sure you get those circulars, too. You know, “pass this meditation on or you will get seven years of bad luck” or worse.
But, then, there are times when one of those items grips you and leaves you thinking ... like the one I received from a friend yesterday. It posed the question, “Isn’t it strange how everyone wants a place in heaven but ... they don’t want to believe, do, or say anything to get there?”
The question resonated with me because it has often baffled me how little people prepare for the biggest event in their lives since conception - their death.
It seems to be a part of human nature to focus on the moment and ignore the long-term issues. For example, I have many times declined to marry people who were seeking a preacher and a church for window dressing to their wedding ceremony.
“Just the ceremony, thank you, we don’t want any pre-marital counseling.”
They will spend countless hours and thousands of dollars planning a half-hour ceremony, but they won’t give a minute to planning a lifetime of marriage.
Strange priorities, don’t you think?
Isn’t it strange how people worry about their pensions, but not about their eternal future?
People with an average lifespan of 70 years, and an eternity beyond, give so little time and attention to what comes after. Without a doubt there are many immediate benefits to living a spiritual life in the here and now, but eternity is a very, very long time and we have to spend it somewhere! Shouldn’t we prepare for that?
Some take the epicurean attitude, “You can’t take it with you so eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”
True, you can’t take it with you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t send it on ahead of you.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal,” Jesus said. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust 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)
Isn’t it strange how we assume we will live to a ripe old age when in fact tomorrow is promised to no one? Not one of us can guarantee we will make it through to the next day, yet we give so little regard to its significance.
Someone has said, “The only thing we ‘have’ to do is die. Everything else is a choice.”
The Bible says, “...it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)
None of us knows the hour of that royal summons. When nursing in Penticton I served on the Code Team where I performed CPR on many people, both young and old. Tragically, very few were successfully rescued. Each one got up that morning just like every other morning. They got dressed and went about their business as usual, oblivious to the reality they had a rendezvous with destiny that very day. They had an appointment with God they had to keep.
As I leaned over them urgently performing compressions I pondered and prayed about whether they were prepared for that close encounter of the ultimate kind.
How much better to meet God before the appointed end, while there is still time to make adjustments in our journey toward judgment!
How much better to know God as Saviour and Friend rather than to live in dread of that disastrous day!
Not many people have laid on their death bed and grieved over not spending enough time on the job. In those closing hours it’s not property, money, career or other success that consumes their thoughts. The dying’s universe implodes to a very small and narrow focus. Current events, politics and other things that once interested or vexed them are reduced to complete irrelevance. It is relationships that are most on people’s hearts and minds as they slip toward the precipice. For many there are regrets and self-recrimination. It is a time to renew or initiate their acquaintance with estranged friends and relatives.
Thankfully, for many, it is also a time to renew or initiate their acquaintance with the God they ignored for so many years. They discover the truth that qualifies them for eternity with God, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned…” (John 3:16-18)
Elsewhere, Jesus said, “Whosoever will may come to me” and again “Whosoever comes to me I will by no means cast away.”
If you are a whosoever then you are qualified to come to Him – no matter what you did in the past, no matter where you are at today.
It has become so cliché it’s now a common joke, nevertheless, the eternal truth has not changed behind these challenging words, “Are you ready to meet your maker?”
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