This life is not all there is. Life on earth is just a dress rehearsal. You will spend far more time in eternity than you will here. Earth is a staging arena, the warm up for your life in eternity. This life is preparation for the next. At the most, you will live a 100 years on earth but you will spend forever in eternity, "God has planted eternity in the human heart." Ecclesiastes 3:11. You have an inborn instinct that longs for immortality, this is because God designed you, in his image, to live for eternity. Even though we know that everyone eventually dies, death always seem unnatural and unfair. The reason we feel we should live forever is that God wired our brains with that desire. The day your heart stops beating will signify the end of your body and your time on earth, but it will not be the end of you. Your earthly body is just a temporary residence for your spirit.
While life on earth offers many choices, eternity only offers two: heaven or hell. Your relationship to God on earth will determine your relationship to him in eternity. If you learn to love and trust Jesus, you will be invited to spend the rest of eternity with him. On the other hand, if you reject his love, forgiveness and salvation, you will spend eternity apart from God.
When you finally comprehend that there is more to life than just the here and now and you realise that this life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently on a daily basis. You will start 'living in the light of eternity' and that will colour how you handle every relationship, task and circumstance. When you live in light of eternity your values change. You use your time and money more wisely. You place a higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame, wealth, achievements or even fun. Your priorities are reordered. Keeping up with fashions, trends and popular values just don't matter as much anymore. Paul said, "I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done." Philippians 3:7.
The most damaging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking. To make the most of your life, you must keep the vision of eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. Yet, the capacity of our brain is unable to handle the wonder and greatness of heaven. Words have not been created that could possibly convey the experience of eternity, "No mere man has ever seen, heard of even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord." 1
Corinthians 4:9. However, God has given us glimpses of eternity in his Word and we know that he is preparing an eternal home for us. In heaven we will be reunited with loved ones who are believers, released from all pain and suffering and rewarded for our faithfulness on earth. We will enjoy unbroken fellowship with God and he will enjoy us for an endless forever. One day, Jesus will say to you, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." Matthew 25:34.
God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn't end here. God offers you an opportunity beyond your lifetime. In the same way as being in your mother's womb prepared you for this life, this life prepares you for eternity. Death is not the end, it is beginning of your eternal life.
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