“What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short… for this world in its present form is passing away.”
1 Corinthians 7:29a, 31b
Deferred gratification is not easy to take, especially for children. When eyeing a cheap trinket, the prudence of saving their allowance so they can buy something better in the future is a hard sell. When we were kids, time moved so slowly that it seemed like the future would never come. A month might as well have been a decade!
Certainly as adults our sense of time is more developed. Yet when it comes to matters of eternity, we are still very much like children in our comprehension, aren’t we? We overvalue earthly concerns like career and marital status because we cannot perceive how quickly they will pass away. At the same time, we undervalue the things which will endure into eternity.
What does it look like to be driven by kingdom priorities? For that we look to Jesus “who, for the joy set before him endured the cross.” With the same joy before us, we fix our eyes on Jesus and obey Him. Content with the life He has given, we love others sacrificially, make disciples and, in doing so, invest in eternity.
Certainly as adults our sense of time is more developed. Yet when it comes to matters of eternity, we are still very much like children in our comprehension, aren’t we? We overvalue earthly concerns like career and marital status because we cannot perceive how quickly they will pass away. At the same time, we undervalue the things which will endure into eternity.
What does it look like to be driven by kingdom priorities? For that we look to Jesus “who, for the joy set before him endured the cross.” With the same joy before us, we fix our eyes on Jesus and obey Him. Content with the life He has given, we love others sacrificially, make disciples and, in doing so, invest in eternity.
Scripture Focus
1 John 2:1-17
Insight
True contentment requires eternal perspective. We must be convinced that what God has in store for us will not soon fade or ever pass away.
Bible In A Year
- Ecclesiastes 11-12
- Psalm 68
- John 8
