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“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” – Ecclesiastes 3:11.
How do you make your toughest decisions? Trust God? Write a pro/con list? Go with your gut? Have your own system that you’ve perfected over the years? One of the best ways to look at decisions is through the lens of eternity. It is a matter of seeing the big picture of how decisions will impact you today, tomorrow and for all eternity. Culture is bombarding us with messages to “live for the moment” and “it’s all about the here and now.” But living for the moment effects much more than the moment itself. The decisions you make in the next few years will have an impact on the rest of your life.
In the same way that the decisions you make in the next few years will impact your life, the decisions we make in our lives on earth have an impact on our lives for eternity. Eternity is a hard thing to grasp, and for many people is a long way off. But is it? The Bible says, “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” (James 4:14)
There is nothing quite as grand as a fireworks display. You can’t help but be impressed by the beauty and colors of the starbursts erupting in an aerial display illuminating the night sky. Fireworks serve as a metaphor for our lives. When each individual firework is lit and shot into the air, suddenly there is a beautiful starburst that dazzles the eye for a few seconds, and then disappears from sight. It then falls to the earth as a useless spent cartridge. Our lifetime on this earth, when compared to eternity, is but a split second. Our lives on earth can be dazzling and we can achieve great success, but we will be a bright light for only a short time. Everything in this life has limits. But God is unlimited.
At some point in time, we all have to choose how we are going to live our lives today. Will we choose the pain of discipline now or the pain of regret in the future. If we do not chose discipline today and start something new and move in a new direction today, then it might very well be the biggest regret you will have tomorrow.
Discussion Questions:
- How does one make decisions with eternity in mind?