Eternity in View. Death is supposed to be part of life. But death is not the end of man, it’s only a bend. Death is not a termination for christians, it is a transition. There is life after death.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
~ Ecclesiastes 3: 11 (NIV)
We should all be concerned about eternity, because we will all get there one of these days. We are created by an eternal God who gave His eternal nature to us, that at the end of our stay on earth, we will all dwell in the world beyond now.
Man is not just created for here and now, man is created for eternity.
We should not live our lives as though there were no life expectancy beyond the earthly grave.
If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
~ 1 Corinthians 15:19 (NIV)
The people who are oblivious to eternity fail to understand that life transcends beyond the grave into eternity. They live miserable lives of hopelessness amidst challenges that life brings to their doorsteps.
When the bitter experiences of life affects them, they feel there is nothing to live for, and sometimes, they go on to commit suicide.
God has put a part of Himself inside of us, which is called “immortality.”
Death is not the end of the discussion. Death signifies that the discussion continues. After death, what will you be discussing in eternity?
Death is not natural to man, because God has created man in His image, and has ingrained in man that ‘immortality’ part of Himself. That’s why we feel sad when people die around us. We all long for that immortality.
This life is not all that there is. Life on earth is just a dress rehearsal before the real production. You will spend more time in eternity than you will spend here on earth. This life is a preparation for the next.
When the earth of man stops beating, it’s the end of the body not the end of the man. Man is a spirit who has a soul, but lives in the body. The body qualifies us to live here on earth.
Our body on earth is a tent, which is temporal, while our eternal body is a house, which is permanent.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
~ 2 Corinthians 5:1 (NIV)
Man is free to make choices, but also not exonerated from the consequences of his choices. As far as eternity is concerned, there are two choices – heaven or hell.
The choice for eternity is made here on earth. This helps man to determine his values and behaviour on earth.
The Brevity of Time
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
~ James 4:14 (NIV)
We can’t see or touch time, yet it’s always flowing and moving forward in the direction of eternity.
Out of the broken pieces of our past, God can still build for us an edifice of hope. We must not live in the past, repairing the past. God wants us to live preparing for eternity.
Our life is timed. When we are long-time thinking, with eternity in view, we can make better choices, take better decisions that shape our behaviour.
An expert of a sermon by Pastor Seun Ogundelu on Wednesday, June 14, 2023
