He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of
men. Eccl. 3:11
About 15 months ago I started on a journey. I started exercising at a higher level of
intensity than I had been previously. I
also started making more significant changes to my diet, eating healthier and
cutting out the processed foods. I had
two reasons for doing this, first, I was tired of being overweight and out of
shape. Second, I needed to start
treating my body like the temple of the God it is (2 Cor. 6:16). After just a few months I had lost some weight
and was pleased with the short term results.
I also gained another reason to continue, training for the Spartan Race
I mentioned a couple weeks ago.
A couple days ago I had my annual physical and was able to
see more of the benefits of my efforts over this last year. Improvements in the numbers related to the
testing my doctor wanted done and the continued weight loss. My doctor was very pleased and I was glad to
see the results myself. I could tell on
the outside that things were changing; clothes fitting better, more energy,
complements from friends and co-workers on what they could see. The results of the testing showed me what was
going on inside, showed me what I could not see.
This has motivated me to keep doing what I have been doing
and got me to thinking about the long term effects of continuing to lose more
weight and getting into better shape.
This in turn has me thinking about life from a long term perspective.
Success coaches tell us we need a vision for our life and to
set goals that will help us achieve that vision. They say we need short, medium and long term
goals. So as we travel through life we
go about setting these goals. We achieve
some of these goals, some we have to reset, and some we give up on for one
reason or another. But of greater
importance is do we have a vision for our spiritual life?
Scripture tells us we should. Proverbs 29:18 tells us those without a
vision will perish, and in Habakkuk 2:2 we are told to write the vision in
tablets of stone. That makes it pretty
definite. It looks like having a vision
is important, especially in our walk with God.
But it goes beyond just setting goals for what we intend to
accomplish while we are here on earth.
We need to have an eternal perspective.
Life is short but we should make the most of it because the things we
accomplish here for God will be translated over to heaven and the roles and responsibilities
we will have there, and we will be there a long, long time. Like forever!
God have given each of us tasks to perform and He has
equipped us to be able to accomplish these tasks. As you approach the tasks God has laid out
before you remember to keep an eternal perspective. Jesus tells us the right perspective keeps
our heart right. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth
and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in
and steal. For where your treasure is,
there your heart will be also.” (Mt. 6:19-21)
Will we always see the results of our efforts? No, some of these things we will not see. Like some of the results of eating right and
exercising were not revealed until certain tests were performed. But we will see results. As we are doing what God has laid out for us
to do, and keeping an eternal perspective, fruit of our efforts will spill over
from the unseen to the seen. The good
news is it will be even better than we can possibly imagine when we are
standing before our God and we see the eternal fruit of following and serving
Him.
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