Putting Things Into Perspective...

Hey guys...it feels extremely weird blogging again; it has been almost eight months. I truly did enjoy it, but it was one of those things that was expendable; when business crept in from every angle it took with it my blogging. But, now I sit in my house soon to be back in Raleigh where I will embark on what is most definitively my last semester at NC State...at least in a way it is definitive. I will only be a student for a semester; that is a conclusion you can take to the bank. However, my current situation is so that I may find myself there serving with Campus Crusade for Christ (less eloquently known as "Cru" in some circles) at NC State as an intern in August. I may also take a step of faith that leads me to Florida State or Tennessee serving in the same capacity. There is also the possibility that I enter a career in my major, Business Administration, but more to my future maybe in a later post....

Right now, I am bombarded by the thought which parallels the central message of Ecclesiastes: all is vanity (see Eccl. 1:2, 1:13-14, 2:1, 2:18-19...). What is eternal that also physically dwells on the earth? The nature of the question itself leaves no room for anything. Things may last for a long time; for example I've heard it takes some four hundred years for a styrofoam cup, such as the cookout cup in my periphery, to disintegrate. Yes, that is a long time. Eighty years on the earth is a long time too.--in one sense at least. In another sense, I'm reminded of something Crawford Lorritts mentioned: we are in a MOMENT stuck between two VAST ETERNITIES. I don't think as a follower of Christ that is news to my mind; but is it news to my HEART? I was watching (not by choice) MTV2 when I noticed a show that very well exemplifies vanity; the essential idea is to do stupid things for entertainment and earn money and a semblance of "fame" doing them.

The sad truth is that there are so many "valuable" causes arising from "good" people (which is a postmodern misconception in and of itself) when viewed from one angle may matter but from an eternal perspective is like a vapor. (James 4:14, Psalm 102:3, Job 7:7) It's not that we should not desire to be a good steward of the earth or any other cause; let's just direct our heart in the right place--toward those things that are eternal: God, His Word, and people. That's why Matthew 22:37-40 mentions the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with your heart, soul, mind and strength (taken from Deut. 6:5) and then to love others as yourself. A proper understanding of Matthew 22:37-40, one that goes deeper than a surface-level assent and results in a desire to do such, is rooted in an eternal perspective.

Personally, I have found myself in a struggle with esteeming vain things as valuable. Satan loves to get us into this mindset of thinking, especially if he is able to keep us there; Christ says in the sermon on the mount that your heart follows your treasures (Matthew 6:21). My challenge to myself as well as you is to examine your heart. What vain things do you see as valuable? How do you esteem things of this world where they should be (and esteem eternal things where they should be) even though we are permeated by a world full of vanities? Why does this even matter?

An eternal perspective changes the way we see God, others around us, and those halfway across the world. The gospel is a gospel of an eternal time frame. Even before the foundation of the world, God loved us and desired to be in eternal fellowship with us (Eph. 1:4-5). God is eternal and created us in the image of himself. (Gen. 1:26) Sin, which encompasses us all from the devout to the diabolical, is deserving of an eternal separation from God. (Romans 3:23, 6:23) Jesus Christ, in His death on the cross, provides us the opportunity to transform our state from one eternity to another--that being from death to life; we just have to believe in it. (John 1:12) The beautiful thing is that we don't have to work tirelessly for something we aren't able to earn in the first place--it is credited to us through Christ! (Eph. 2:8-9).

Having seen God in this way, we are enabled to proclaim the gospel with our lives and our love with those both near and far. Our efforts will be eternal when favor with God is the precedent, not the prize. Jim Elliot is right when he says, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." Anyway, it is late and the desire to sleep is beginning to overwhelm me. My prayer for this semester (which will be my last as a student) is that by the Spirit we will maintain an eternal perspective within the gospel which allows us to be of eternal significance, wherever that is and whatever that means for each one of us.

In Christ,

Johnathan