“This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever.” 1 John 2:17
Since I was made to last forever, what is the one thing I should stop doing and the one thing I should start doing today?
Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
“Your time on earth is, but a small parenthesis in eternity.” Sir Thomas Browne
Even though we know everyone eventually dies, death still seems unnatural and unfair. The reason we feel we should live forever is that God wired our brains with the desire. “God has... planted eternity in the human heart” we have an inborn instinct that longs for immortality (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
“Sureley God would not have created such a being as man to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.” -Abraham Lincoln
This Life is Preparation for the next
When you Live in light of Eternity, your values change
Day 5: Seeing Life from God's View
Purpose Driven Life
What on Earth am I here for?
“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.” -Anais Nin
Life is a carousel: Sometimes you're up, sometimes your down
Life is a ten-speed bicycle with gears we never use
Life is a game of cards: you have to play the hand you are dealt
What has happened to me recently that I now realize was a test from God? What are the greatest matters God has entrusted to me?
Character is both developed and revealed by tests, and all of life is a test.
A very important test is how you act when you can't feel God's presence in your life. Sometimes God intentionally draws back , and we don't sense his closeness. A king named Hezekiah experienced this test. The Bible says, “God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart.” Hezekiah had enjoyed a close fellowship with God, but at a crucial point in his life God left him alone to test his character, to reveal a weakness, and to prepare him for more responsibility.
When you understand that life is a test, you realize that nothing is insignificant in your life.
“Unless you are faithful in small matters, you won't be faithful in large ones.” Luke 16:10
Day 6: Life is a Temporary Assignment
Purpose Driven Life
What on Earth am I here for?
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18
How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?
“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is feeing away.” Psalm 39:4
“I am here on earth for just a little while” Psalm 119:19
In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life- longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of earth.
A fish would never be happy living on land, because it was made for water. Just like an eagle could never feel satisfied if it wasn't allowed to fly.
“All that is not eternal is eternally useless” -C.S. Lewis
Paul was faithful, yet he ended up in prison.
John the Baptist was faithful, but he was beheaded.
Millions of faithful people have been martyred, have lost everything, or have come to the end of life with nothing to show for it. But the end of life is not the end!
At death you wont leave home-- you'll go home.
It takes faith to live on earth as a foreigner and once we get to heaven we'll wonder “why did I place so much importance on things that were so temporary?
This is how I feel a lot: “A retiring missionary coming home to America on the same boat as the president of the US. Cheering crowds, a military band, a red carpet, banners, and the media welcomed the president home, but the missionary slipped off the ship unnoticed. Feeling self-pity and resentment he began complaining to God. Then God gently reminded him, “But my child, you're not home yet.”
It's all for Him "Everything Comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory." Romans 11:36
"The Lord has made everything for his own purposes" Proverbs 16:4
Living for God's glory is the greatest achievement we can accomplish with our lives.
When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God.
How to bring Glory to God? Through worship, loving others, becoming like Christ, serving others with our gifts, and telling others about him.
Where in my daily routine can I become more aware of God's glory?
In school, because I feel like that's one area that I forget to honor and thank and praise him. I tend to focus on it more with ball because of the Bible studies I attend are geared toward it and I remembers things like "audience of one" and playing for God's glory. But I don't do anything like that to remind myself of God's glory in school.
Day 7: The Reason for Everything
Purpose Driven Life
What on Earth am I here for?
"The Lord has made everything for his own purposes" Proverbs 16:4
Living for God's glory is the greatest achievement we can accomplish with our lives.
When anything in creation fulfills its purpose, it brings glory to God.
How to bring Glory to God? Through worship, loving others, becoming like Christ, serving others with our gifts, and telling others about him.
Where in my daily routine can I become more aware of God's glory?
In school, because I feel like that's one area that I forget to honor and thank and praise him. I tend to focus on it more with ball because of the Bible studies I attend are geared toward it and I remembers things like "audience of one" and playing for God's glory. But I don't do anything like that to remind myself of God's glory in school.
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