Do You Think About Eternity?
Who does your life belong to?
If I’m honest with myself, my life belongs to different things and people on different days. Often I act like my life belongs to myself—but my goal is for my life to belong fully to God, every hour of every day. In order for that to be true, I must die to myself daily, taking up my cross again every morning. All my selfishness didn’t evaporate all at once when I met Jesus. I discover new areas of selfishness in my thoughts, in my heart, and in my life constantly. Thank God, I can repent and He changes those habits. So I am ever-growing and always asking Him to make me more like Him.
One of the most common ways I see selfishness stealing the joy of believers in the church today is by self-preservation. We are constantly thinking about protection, seeking comfort, praying for safety. So much so that the statistics of the body of Christ at large reflect that:
In ministries, there are 4.19 million full-time Christian workers, and 95% are staying within the Christian world. There are 900 churches for every one unreached people group, and 78,000 evangelical Christians for every one unreached people group. The estimated percentage of money going toward people groups that are unreached with the Gospel is only .001% of the $42 trillion income of Christians. Percentage of that income given to any form of Christian cause is estimated to be 60%—which sounds pretty good, until you realize that this is the same amount of money we spend on Christmas in America. Furthermore, the percentage given to missions is estimated to be only 6.4% of the money given to Christian causes of any kind, according to 2015 figures (*5.6% reported in 2010, GAC). Even if somehow that number still sounds good, it’s important to note that it’s also the same amount we spend on dieting programs in America. In recent years, Americans literally spent more money on Halloween costumes for their pets than the amount given to reach the unreached.[1]
These stats shouldn’t just make us sick, they should make us change. It’s not just about where we live or how we spend our money, it’s about the posture of our hearts when it comes to who we’re living for. When we look at the Scriptures, we see every single one of the disciples and “heroes of the faith” doing the exact opposite of prioritizing their own safety and comfort—usually to the point of martyrdom. The consistent litmus test of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus is death to self.[2]
I believe self-preservation can be boiled down to metaphysical naturalism (stay with me). Deep down, we have this underlying belief that the natural world in front of us is actually the only thing that exists—perhaps the product of a subconscious fear of this being the case. Small degrees of metaphysical naturalism can creep into our hearts without us even realizing it. If we examine ourselves honestly, I think it’s possible we can trace behaviors of survival back to a buried belief in the temporary, natural world being more trustworthy than God’s promises. Of course, God is very much in the natural world—because He created it—but therefore He is transcendent and superior to it. The natural world should point us toward Him, not away from Him.
Our lives on earth are like a vapor, here and then gone.[3] We’re aging as I type these words. We can spend the effort of our entire lives preserving them, and our bodies will still die. Nature beckons us to protect, feed, clothe, and shelter ourselves—but if we listen to the natural world alone, that one vapor of life is all we’ll have.
In the late 60s, psychologist Walter Mischel conducted a Stanford case study that became well-known as “The Marshmallow Experiment.”[4] In this study, a variety of children were given an option to have one reward immediately, or two rewards if they waited. Each of them were given time to sit in a room and decide whether to give in and receive a single enticing treat, or wait until they were brought a second. (Note: the coming reward was out of sight.) If they couldn’t wait long enough, they rang a bell to have the first treat and didn’t receive the second. Children who were able to delay gratification long enough to receive two rewards were proven to excel in a number of other areas, because of an ability to resist giving in to the temptation of immediate satisfaction—what they could see in front of them.
If we really believe that what’s promised and what’s coming is better than anything we could gain here and now, the “rewards” of this world become unappealing. They gradually lose their hold on our decisions, as the lust for instant gratification becomes bridled. If you don’t fully believe in eternity, you will always naturally preserve your natural life, because you think it’s all you have. But the higher your view of an eternal kingdom, the lesser your view of your finite life now—which means you’ll spend it so much differently. So, how often do you think about eternity? Is it once a year? Is it only when someone dies? Or is it every day, the centrality of your decisions in how to use the time you were given?
We were created to spend our lives, not preserve them.
“If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places, He will make your bones strong; you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose waters do not fail.”[5]
We see here that in the eyes of heaven, spending ourselves is actually what gives us life. The world tells us that a counterfeit version of a “full life” can be obtained by prioritizing pleasure, what you take for yourself. When we avoid spending our lives, we are actually cutting of our ability to shine in the darkness, to receive His continual guidance, the true satisfaction of our desires, the strength of our bones, the spring that waters us.
But when we spend our lives on behalf of what He values, He turns our gloom to shine like the noonday. He not only looks after us, but makes our lives effulgent.
Seek first His kingdom, and He will add far more to you than you could ever add to yourself.[6]
Autumn Crew is the Managing Editor of FAI Publishing. She lives in the Middle East and serves a number of disciple-making initiatives, and HAVEN Addiction Refuge.
[1] “Missions Statistics.” The Traveling Team. Accessed July 8, 2020. http://www.thetravelingteam.org/stats.
[2] Matthew 16:24-26
[3] James 14:14
[4] Brand, Stewart. “Walter Mischel.” The Long Now Foundation. Accessed July 8, 2020. http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/may/02/marshmallow-test-mastering-self-control/.
[5] Isaiah 58:10-11
[6] Matthew 6:33