“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give you light.” — Ephesians 5:14
Seeing the Christian life as a foot race is a common Biblical illustration. Paul uses it a number of times to explain spiritual truths. One of my favorite uses of this analogy is in Hebrews 12:2 where the author states, "Who for the joy that was set before him..." The truth revealed here is that, as important as it was, the cross was not Jesus' goal. His goal was the joy found beyond the agony of the cross.
In like manner, our race does not end at the moment we leave this earth but, rather, concludes at the foot of the throne in heaven (Revelation 20:12). So, if the goal line is found in eternity, shouldn't our objectives also be focused there? Why, after all, would anyone want to create goals that fall short of the finish line? And, if the finish line is in eternity, it seems reasonable that our goals should have certain everlasting qualities and characteristics about them. Not everything we do and nothing we accumulate — save the souls of men — will make the transition from this world to the next (1 Corinthians 3:13). So it is incumbent upon us to carefully consider the quality of the goals we choose in this life.
The most valuable possession we have on this earth is immaterial. I am speaking of time. It seems odd that that would be true, but it is. We each receive the same amount of sand in our hourglass every day. Once spent, it can never be recovered. "Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives," was the tagline from a long-running soap opera. Watching it may have been a waste of a lot of good sand, but the saying did have the ring of truth to it. Moses' wise prayer was that God would teach us to number our days (Psalm 90:12). What we trade for those seconds in a day, what we mix with the minutes, determines how much actual regard we have for our days.
The door which opens into eternity is not in the future, it is behind the believer (John 10:9). You and I enter into eternity the moment we are born from above. If we have been born again, we are already dwelling in eternity. We can choose to embue the day with eternal qualities or let it slip through our hands, squandered in activities that have no everlasting ingredients mixed with them. Let us ask God to give us a heart of wisdom regarding our todays in light of the eternal tomorrow.
"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil." — Ephesians 5:15,16
