Monday's Message: Eternity in Mind

“Eternity In Mind”

2 Corinthians 4:13-18

                In our current world today there are so many things going on every single day and everyone seems to always be busy.  Work, school, family, church, hobbies, etc., all fill our days and have us running back and forth.  While none of these things are bad in and of themselves, I worry that we as believers allow ourselves to become so busy, even with church work, that we forget the most important job that we have; winning souls.  In verse 13 Paul points out the fact that He had believed on Christ, and therefore he told others. We too should keep in mind that someone took the time to share with us the Gospel of Christ, and so we in turn should share that good news with someone else. In verse 14 we see that when we give God praise and thanksgiving He is glorified in our lives and in the eyes of the world. Verse 16 is a great reminder that we NEED to have our inward man renewed day by day.  Maybe the reason why we are not as effective as we should be in reaching others is because we have not been renewed that day, and we are still living and working in the flesh.  As we read in verse 17 the Apostle Paul called his affliction light and but for a moment.  Anyone who has done any sort of reading on the Apostle Paul knows that his affliction would not be considered light by anyone’s standards, however he says that it worked a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. The reason Paul was able to say that, was because he was focused on the eternal, not the temporal.  His focus was on ensuring that the Gospel of Christ was spread to as many lost and dying souls as possible.  He wanted to make sure that their eternity was taken care of first.  While it’s great to give back to our communities, it’s great to give money to charity, it’s great to tithe, and it’s even great to work around the church, let us not forget that we need to stay focused on the eternal.  The world all around us is lost, dying, and going to hell by the hundreds of thousands and where is our focus?  On jobs (temporal), on clothes (temporal), and school (temporal), and the list goes on and on.  Believers, it’s high time that we get our priorities straight and ask God daily keep our eyes on the eternal; people’s lives LITERALLY depend on it.