{"id":15910,"date":"2024-01-18T18:50:04","date_gmt":"2024-01-18T18:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/?p=15910"},"modified":"2024-12-14T17:05:14","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T17:05:14","slug":"eternity-in-our-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/?p=15910","title":{"rendered":"Eternity in our Hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men\u2019s hearts and minds a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy, yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMP)<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t usually make New Year resolutions because I try to live each day or season for what it brings but with an eternal perspective in everything I do.<\/p>\n

The Book of James states:<\/p>\n

Now listen, you who say, \u201cToday or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.\u201d Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, \u201cIf it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. (James 4:13-15)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You may be the best businessman in your community or have the best job or career. You may grow the best crops and produce the finest animals. But if you don\u2019t have a personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and you don\u2019t strive to live for Jesus in every area of your life, then you are not living with an eternal perspective.<\/p>\n

When it\u2019s all been said and done, all our treasures will mean nothing. And there is only one thing that will stand the test of time: The love of Christ in our hearts.<\/p>\n

For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for all, then all died; And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I read the story of an evangelist who visited a rich man one day on his neighbouring farm. The man had spent most of his life building the house of his dreams. He had lived in it a mere three months and was sitting on the front veranda, totally wasted away from a terminal disease, the evangelist said to the rich man, What a beautiful house,\u201d Tears filled the rich man\u2019s eyes. Yes, evangelist, he responded, \u201cbut for what?\u201d Three weeks later he died.<\/p>\n

Jesus made this clear in His parable of the rich fool by pointing out that a man\u2019s life does not consist in and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance or that which is over and above his needs. The man thought that he would pull down his storehouses and build larger ones, and there he would store or hoard all his grain, produce, and goods.<\/p>\n

And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have many good things laid up, [enough] for many years. Take your ease; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself merrily. But God said to him, You fool! <\/span><\/p>\n

This very night they [the messengers of God] will demand your soul of you; and all the things that you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with the one who continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself but doesn\u2019t have a rich relationship with God.\u201d [this is how he fares]. (See Luke 12:16-21 AMP)<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What about you? Is what you are living for worth Christ dying for? What motivates you in business, job, ministry, or career? Do you do your best to live for the truth? For what do you wish to be remembered for? What if the offer of money or success sidetracks you from your true calling?<\/p>\n

Remember the more we aim at personal success, the less secure we become. We are threatened continually by the possibility that someone else will succeed more than us. That is why Solomon observed that most people are motivated to succeed because they envy their neighbours. But this, too, is meaningless like chasing the wind (Ecclesiastes 4:4).<\/p>\n

You can easily achieve what appears to be a success and yet somehow become frustrated. Derek Prince <\/a><\/span>wrote that he once heard a talk by the president of a well-known evangelical college. The majority of parents who send their children to that college are professing Christians. But the President had this to say:<\/p>\n

I make it a point to ask each of my students, \u2018When your parents sent you to this college, what did they tell you was the most important thing in your future? Was it to become a faithful servant of Jesus Christ? \u201cUp to this point,\u2019\u2019 the president continued, \u201cnone of my students has ever answered yes.<\/p>\n

If your son or daughter were to be enrolled in that college, how would he or she answer? If you are a father or mother you need to ask yourself questions like these:<\/p>\n