ETERNAL
PERSPECTIVE
REGGIE Jackson was a baseball player known as “Mr. October.” He got his nickname because he was known to shine when his team played in the postseason playoffs. Reggie would come up to bat, and the ball was going over somebody’s fence. Reggie Jackson said once in an interview that he lived for the postseason because that is when he would shine. But Reggie Jackson, in order to get to the postseason, had to get through the regular season. His secret to shining in the regular season was to keep his eye on October. God is looking for some Mr. and Mrs. Octobers—people with their eyes on eternity who faithfully play the regular season because they’re looking forward to postseason glory.240
[Eternity; Heavenly Mind-set; Kingdom of God]
John 14:2; Phil. 3:12–14
MYOPIA is the technical term for what is commonly known as nearsightedness. People who are nearsighted only see what’s near or close to them. Their range of vision is limited. They need glasses to see things farther away due to their myopia. This same medical terminology has been used in the broader context of life to describe people who are shortsighted and who don’t see the big picture in life. These folks tend to live for the moment, making choices that benefit them in the “right now.” They live their lives existing only for this life.241
[Greed; Worldliness, Concept of]
Matt. 6:19–21; Luke 12:16–21
A TOMBSTONE contains a date of birth, date of death, and a dash. Above these things is the name of the deceased and below, usually, will be some kind of statement. The main part of the tombstone is the dash. It is all about the dash because the dash is talking about what happened while that person was here on earth.
When we meet God, He is going to want to discuss the dash. He is going to want to know what we did do that served His eternal purposes.242
[Life, Management of; Stewardship]
Matt. 25:14–30
ONE DAY a man was talking to an angel. The angel said, “What can I do for you?” The man said, “Show me the Wall Street Journal one year from today. This way, I will know where to invest and will become a multimillionaire.” The angel snapped his fingers and out came a Wall Street Journal marked one year in advance of the date when they were talking. The man flipped the pages of the newspaper, studying the listings and observing which stocks would be high and which ones would be low. But in the midst of his joy, a frown came upon his face and tears began to roll down his eyes because when he looked over on the next page, he saw his face. His picture was in the paper under the obituary column.
You see, this life can only offer you so much. Unless you live now in light of eternity, you are going to waste time focusing on the things of this earth. Enjoy your life, but as a Christian focused on the things that matter to God.243
[Life, Management of; Money, Use of; Stewardship]
Matt. 25:14–30; Luke 12:16–21
ONE OF the greatest connections you could ever make is the connection between time and eternity. Expectations always affect behavior. You can always know what you expect by what you do.
If you expect to be a doctor, it will affect your educational plans. If you expect to be a pro athlete, it will affect your workout regimen. If you found out you were terminally ill, it would affect what you consider important. Expectations affect decisions.
Many Christians are living in perpetual defeat because their expectations are locked into time and they have lost sight of eternity.244
[Eternity; Time, Perspective on]
Ps. 39:5
THE REFLECTION from the sun is supposed to let us see the brilliance of the moon, which has no light of its own. The moon is dark 24/7. The sun reflects off of the moon so that the beautiful moon is actually the result of the work of the sun.
Now on some days we can see a full moon, on other days we can see a half moon. On yet another day, only a quarter of the moon is visible, and then at times we can’t see the moon at all. How come we don’t always get the full moon? Because whenever there is less than a full moon, it means the Earth is in the way. The Earth has gotten between a portion of the moon and the sun. The moon’s reflection is interrupted as Earth moves in its orbit. Earth simply keeps getting in the way.
Many of us are not able to move forward in our lives, because Earth keeps getting in the way. We are so focused on time, and so foggy about eternity, that the benefits of eternity are not able to penetrate the realities of time and we are stuck with what we see.245
[Worldliness, Distraction of]
Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 13:12; Heb. 12:1
A MAN died and went to heaven. Saint Peter met him at the gate. The man wanted to know what the value system was in heaven. He said, “Peter, how much is a minute worth up here?” Peter said, “Well, in heaven, a minute is worth a million years.” The man excitedly said, “Whoa! Well, then, how much is a nickel worth up here?” Peter said, “Well, up here, a nickel is worth a million dollars.” He said, “WHOA! Well, Peter, can I have a nickel?” Peter said, “Yeah, in a minute.”
It’s all about your value system. It’s all about what you’re looking at.246
[Money, Love of; Perspective]
Ps. 90:12; Matt. 16:26
FLORENCE Chadwick was a world-class swimmer. She had already been successful in swimming the English Channel. Now she wanted to take on the twenty-six-mile trek from Catalina Island, California, to the California mainland, as no woman had ever done that before. So Florence went into the Pacific with a number of boats surrounding her as she made the trip. She swam. Hour after hour, she swam. It was a very foggy night when she tried to do this. As darkness set in, she could barely see her hand in front of her face as she stroked. After swimming fifteen hours and fifty-five minutes, she waved to the boats and said, “I can go no farther. I quit.”
They hoisted her out of the water, and they asked her, “Why can’t you keep going?” She said, “Because I can’t see. The fog is just too thick.” After getting on the boat, she discovered that she was only one-half mile from the coast of California. All that hard work, and she was ever so close but she didn’t quite make it.
Florence Chadwick decided to try again two months later. She got in the water. It looked bright and sunny, but after about twelve hours, fog set in once more. This time the fog was even worse than before. Again, she couldn’t see, but this time she kept swimming. She kept going. This time she not only swam from Catalina Island to the coast, but she swam there and beat the world record by two and a half hours.
When she arrived at the California coastline, she was interviewed and asked, “Last time you tried this, you quit. How did you make it this time?” She said, “This time it was easy because I kept a mental picture of the California coastline in my mind. And as long as I didn’t lose sight of where I was going, I could handle the trip getting there.”247
[Focus; Perspective, Power of; Trials, Patience in]
John 14:2–3; Gal. 5:7
HER NAME was Dorothy. He was the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy had a nice, comfortable life in a place called Kansas. But through a tornado, her life got turned upside down and inside out and she found herself in a magical place—a place unlike she’d ever seen before. But there was a problem; she didn’t know how to get back home.
Somebody told her about a Wizard in the city of Oz and told her if she could only get to him, he’d get her home. So she began a tour down a yellow brick road. She picked up three friends along the way because everybody was hurting. She passed on the word, “There’s this guy in Oz and I hear that he can fix it all. He can get me home, he can get you a brain, he can get you a heart, and he can get you courage. I hear that there’s no need the Wizard can’t meet, so I think we need to stop hanging out and we need to follow the yellow brick road.”
So they skipped down the road, singing, “We’re off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz,” because he had the answer to their problems and their needs. And even though there were a lot of things trying to get in their way—there were monkeys, the wicked old witch, and all these problems—they were determined to get to him because he had the answers to all of the different dilemmas that they faced.
They finally get to the place called Oz. They finally get behind the curtain and they discover something very interesting. Dorothy’s told to click her heels three times because the Wizard told her, “Dorothy, you’re already home. You’re looking to go where you already are. If you simply click your heels, you’ll discover you’ve been there all the time.”
Did you know you’re already home? The Bible says that when you got saved, He raised you and seated you next to Jesus Christ in heavenly places. The Bible says when God saved you, He had already taken care of your eternal destiny. You are already home.248
[Heavenly Mind-set; Kingdom of God; Victory]
Luke 17:20–21
WHEN I travel, I stay in a hotel, but I never unpack my suitcase. I operate out of my suitcase. I never open up the drawers and put my clothes away. Why? Because I’m not coming to live there. I’m visiting the hotel for a day or two. I don’t unpack all my stuff because that room is not my home. Now, I enjoy the hotel room but I just don’t get too comfortable.
Whenever I travel out of the country, I don’t learn the language of the country. I don’t bother to spend mounds of time mastering the language of the culture because I’m not staying there. I may be there for a day or two, or maybe even a week if the country is far enough, but I don’t invest much time and energy in language study because I know I’m not going to stay. I am only there for a temporary period of time to do my business. Then I’m going to catch a plane and leave. I am always conscious of my home. I’m always conscious of Dallas, Texas, because that is where my home is.
The problem with believers is that we make this world home. We unpack our bags and we become absorbed in the culture around us, forgetting that this world is not our home.249
[Heavenly Mind-set; Worldliness, Distraction of]
John 14:2; 1 John 2:15–17
STICK your finger in a glass of water, pull it out, and see what kind of dent you leave behind. The spot where you placed your finger will quickly fill in. While you may make an impression for a moment, as soon as you are off the scene, that place is going to fill right in.
This is what our lives are like. We are here on this earth for a moment. The impression we make in time is only but for a moment and then time will quickly fill in as we pass on into eternity.250
[Life, Brevity of; Time, Perspective on]
Ps. 39:5; James 4:14
SO MANY people today are living empty lives. There was a man who once said he was dying to finish high school so he could go to college. Then he was dying to finish college so he could start his career. Then he was dying to get married and start a family. Then he was dying for the kids to turn eighteen so they could leave. Then he was dying to retire. And then … he was just dying. He never really got around to living because he never connected his temporal state with his eternal state. He never connected time with eternity.251
[Eternity; Life, Emptiness of; Time, Perspective on]
Ps. 90:12; John 9:4