Married to a fool
My wife is married to a fool. Yes, that’s me. Why am I fool? Well, there are several reasons, but the one that has hit home to me recently is that for years I have put most of my efforts into things that won’t last. Like creating a wonderful, intricate ice sculpture, laboring over it for hours, only to have it melt.
In a sermon at church last week our pastor spoke about the fact that our lives are very short; they last as long as the blink of an eye. We are placed here on earth for a very short time. We strive and labor and try to make ends meet, day in and day out. We get so caught up in the here and now that we forget that eternity lies ahead of us, and that God wants us to invest in things that will last for eternity.
We are made for eternity (see Ecclesiastes 3:11). Why then do I spend so much of my time worried about things that don’t last? An eternal view changes my perspective on everything. I need to remember that things, money, etc. don’t last. What will last is what is from God, what builds upon His work.
This perspective can be very uncomfortable. It means, for one thing, that I should not fear (physical) death. The Bible is clear that if I believe in my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe that God raised him from the dead, then I will be saved (Romans 10:9). It means that all of my striving after “things” is dumb and not worth it. It means that the more I invest in my marriage, my children, my relationships with others, and try to help and serve others, the more I am investing in things that will last for eternity.
I’ve spent most of my life wondering about my life’s purpose — trying to understand why God made me and how He wants to use me. Am I meant to be a missionary? An evangelist? A “light” in the workplace? The sermon I heard last week is helping me to understand that perhaps that is not the way I should be thinking. Instead I need to just focus on building on what I know will last for eternity. With that perspective, everything else should fall into place.
