Living with Eternity in View

Luke 13:22-35

Eternity is truly such a difficult concept to wrap our human minds around. It’s so easy for us to fall into the mindset that this life is all there is when, as Christians, we believe that it’s just the beginning. It got me thinking about what it might look like if we did a better job of living with an eternal mindset. That is, living in a way that keeps eternity in view: making decisions based on what matters forever, not just on what feels temporarily important.

Let’s reflect: How might living with this kind of perspective impact the way you react to minor inconveniences? How would it affect your overall view of other humans? How would your priorities shift? Before you keep reading, take a second to sit with these questions.

I think walking through life with this perspective would help all of us realize what truly matters. To name a few things, it would bring our attention back to our relationship with God and others; it would help us view every single person as someone with eternal value; it would help us care less about worldly success, and it would give us hope and endurance through the hardships of life on this side of eternity.

In Luke 13:24, Jesus says, “strive to enter through the narrow door.” When I first read this my initial response is “hmmm…strive?” Doesn’t asking us to strive go against the whole point of Jesus dying on the cross for us? Doesn’t the Bible teach us that we don’t have to strive? That the work was already done through Jesus? That God loves us as we are?

While it is true that we are saved by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8), this passage reminds us that a true relationship with God takes effort. We shouldn’t settle for simply knowing about Jesus. We should be ‘striving’ to know Jesus and to live a life that reflects and honors our relationship with Him. Not in a way that requires perfection but in a way that does involve persistence and determination. The word strive here implies that building this kind of relationship is not easy. It involves being willing to make sacrifices and surrender to God, even when it costs you.

There have been times in my life where I’ve walked away from good, beautiful things to honor my relationship with God. Making decisions like that is never easy and sometimes I look back and wonder if I got it all wrong. However, as soon as I begin to look at things from an eternal perspective, all the doubts and questions fade away. Our central purpose on this side of eternity is to know and love God and to extend His love and grace to others. Every time we live in a way that aligns with that, we are making decisions that matter not only for our earthly lives, but for eternity.

My biggest hope is that at the end of our lives, when we come face to face with God, He will not look at any of us and say, ”I do not know you or where you come from” (Luke 13:25), but rather “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23).

Carmen K