“We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV) God created you to live in heaven with him for eternity. Heaven is your home—not Earth. That’s why you sometimes experience discontentment and dissatisfaction in life. You’re not completely happy here because you’re not supposed to be! If you were totally happy on Earth, you might think you could live without God. But God created you to long for something much better—a home in heaven with him. A fish would never be happy living on land, because it was made for water. An eagle could never feel satisfied if it wasn’t allowed to fly. You will never feel completely satisfied on Earth, because you were made for more. You will have happy moments here, but it’s nothing compared to what God has planned for you in eternity. This is also why some of God’s promises seem unfulfilled, some prayers seem unanswered, and some circumstances seem unfair. This life is not the end of the story. When you realize life on Earth is just temporary, it radically alters your values. Eternal values, not temporal ones, become the deciding factor for your decisions. The Bible tells us to “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV). The next time you find yourself longing for more than this life offers you, remember that’s just evidence that you were made for something more!
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“We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV) God created us to live in heaven with him for eternity. Heaven is our home, not Earth. That’s why we sometimes experience discontentment and dissatisfaction in life. We’re not completely happy here because we’re not supposed to be! Otherwise, we might think we can live without God. He created us to long for something much better—a home in heaven with him. A fish would never be happy living on land, because it was made for water. An eagle could never feel satisfied if it wasn’t allowed to fly. You will never feel completely satisfied on Earth because you were made for more. You will have happy moments here, but nothing compared to what God has planned for you. This is also why some of God’s promises seem unfulfilled, some prayers seem unanswered, and some circumstances seem unfair. But this is not the end of the story. Realizing that life on Earth is just temporary should radically alter your values. Eternal values should influence all your decisions. As C.S. Lewis observed, “All that is not eternal is eternally useless.” The Bible tells us to “fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV). “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
John 14:2-3 (NIV) Have you ever wondered what heaven will look like? In a word, it will be indescribable. Even Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, didn’t have words to describe it: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NLT). Right now, we live on a broken planet. Nothing works perfectly, and yet there’s still a lot of beauty in it. Imagine what it will be like to be in absolutely perfect place—with perfect sights, sounds, and smells. Our TV version of heaven with fog up to the knees, angel wings, and white everywhere is a pale comparison. Heaven won’t be boring! The more pain, sorrow, abuse, violence, and prejudice we see on earth, the better heaven starts to seem in our minds. We have so much to look forward to. But the only reason we can do that is because of what Jesus did. The resurrection gives us hope. Without the resurrection, we wouldn’t have a chance at heaven. Paul tells us this in 1 Corinthians 15:17-20: “If Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world” (NLT). We can know for an absolute certainty that we’ll spend eternity in heaven. We can have this hope because Jesus has forgiven every sin we’ve ever committed and every sin we'll commit in the future. Because Jesus has paid for our sins, we no longer have to worry about what happens to us when we die. And the same can be true for you. Jesus has it covered: “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2-3 NIV). |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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