Topic: An eternal home motivates faithfulness in the moment
Throughout Second Corinthians, Paul communicates that the goal of the believer is to live in the present with eternity in plain sight. With eternity as the goal, a believer is able to endure the present struggles, knowing that trials provide opportunities to grow in one’s relationship with God and share God’s sustaining comfort with others.
II Corinthians 4:16-18: “16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer person is decaying, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
A heavenly focused heart inspires faithful diligent service. Contemplation of our future hope should inspire faithfulness here and now. The motivation for working hard and using every moment is the realization that what we do here affects life hereafter. There is more continuity between how we live our life now and our future life in heaven than we realize. What we do here and now reflects what we believe about life after death.
A heavenly focused heart encourages continued endurance in our present struggle. The struggle of life in this fallen world is both external and internal. Paul urges us to endure, to not become weary in doing good, to walk worthy, and to keep morally pure. Serving well for the weight of glory is worth the fight. Many faithful servants listed in Hebrews 11 endured unspeakable suffering by focusing on a country, a city not made with human hands or polluted by human hands, a better country. So often we lose sight of the goal and lose heart in the struggle. The writer of Hebrews urges us to live as they lived, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).
With our heart on the future goal of heaven, we are able to endure the present grit. A healthy future focus also promotes present holy living. Most every extended passage dealing with future events also contains a strong exhortation to present holy living (II Peter 3:10-18). God did not tell us about the future just for our information but for our transformation and motivation to holy living. Contemplation of future hope is intended to motivate present holiness.
See you Sunday,
Dr. Scott Kallem