Living in light of Eternity

Lately God has been impressed on my heart this idea of "Living in light of Eternity." I've been challenged to look at what this means on a daily basis, and its not fun. haha I mean it is, but you understand what I mean, its a daily dying to self, and (for me) that is not fun. I like pleasing myself if I'm completely honest. I like convenient, I like easy, I like cookie cutter. But as I read through scripture and let scripture read me, dying to self, personal convenience, easy, and cookie cutter is not how Jesus told us to live. At all. That is when I start to get the sweats. Sweaty palms, racing heart, the jitters.....and I say Lord, I'm good. Life is good. I have my family of four and we are good! But did he call me to just have this perfect cookie cutter life? And is he calling me to stay there....and if I'm being honest the answer is no. EVENThough, I would love to say yes. :)
As I read through the word, I got to thinking about how we are just passing through this life. This is not the end all be  all place to plant and take root life, if we are followers of Christ. We are passing through, only. God in all his graciousness allowed us to be here on earth at this very time and season we are here, and his heart and his desire is for us to impact His Kingdom. Not to strive for the perfect family of four, white picket fence, and perfect career. We are passing through. The point is to bring people with us as we pass through.
I have been reading 1st & 2nd Timothy a lot lately and I just love the encouragement Paul gives to Timothy. He is a source of strength and encouragement for him. All throughout these books Paul is helping Timothy and paved all through out his letter there is one theme...living in light of eternity. Here are some things I've been learning:

1 Timothy 1:15-17 Paul remembers what God did for him, remembers where he came from, and knows where he is going...he is living in light of eternity, and does not forget that he is a sinner saved by grace.

1 Timothy 4:7-8 Paul says to train yourself to be Godly. What sound advice! because how hard is it to be Godly? Its very hard, so he tells timothy to TRAIN yourself. Its not going to come natural, you have to work at it. He also knew this eternal mindset was not a natural response either....we have to train ourselves to have it.

2 Timothy 2:22-25 Paul is writing timothy with Jesus in mind as his example. All throughout the Gospels we see Jesus' life and we see he took every opportunity to teach his disciples about the Kingdom of God, and whatever he taught them, He lived before them! So in order to continue in this eternal mindset, we need to live out what we believe. Live out what the Bible tells us to. That is living in light of eternity!

2 Timothy 4:3-8 No matter how hard this life gets...keep going! Keep your eyes on the goal...eternity. Keeping our eyes on what really matters, what we are here for, what impact we are supposed to have for HIS Kingdom is why we live in light of eternity, and can one day join Paul in saying, "I have fought the good fight! I have finished the race! and I have kept the faith!"

Joseph M. Stowell, Pastor for the Moody Church in Chicago wrote, "When we believe the reality of the other side, we start behaving differently on this side. This is what drove the disciples our into their world - they had seen firsthand the reality of the other side."