Last Sunday I mentioned the friend who had the heart attack, turns out it was a cardiac event. Not sure how that is better but it is less severe. Anyway, that sparked some thinking about what is really important in light of the time we have here which God characterizes as a vapor. This morning I was in Psalm 10 and Psalm 16 and the words of the Psalmists pushed me a bit farther on how to evaluate what is really important.
In 10:3 – 5 we see that the wicked are characterized as boasting of their heart’s desire, spurning the Lord, and his ways prospering. It is a picture of one who is fiscally successful, if you will, one who is worshiping, successfully, at the altar of commerce. But it could be any other altar, any desire, sex, status, possessions, anything for which one is willing to give their life. You know of people like this, they live lives that overtly deny any god but themselves, craving attention and immediate gratification of their every desire.
Then fast forward to Psalm 16, specifically the first part of verse 4, “…the sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied.” Whoa, on the surface that does not seem to square with what we see, until we put it in context of God’s time.
In relation to eternity, all of recorded history is not even a blip. Our lives are a vapor in the midst of that blip. If the Bible is true, we will live the rest of eternity based on the choices we make during that vapor. So the question becomes are we going to work at maximizing our pleasure during the vapor or invest in preparation for the long haul, eternity. What makes it hard is that we can see now. The challenges and the pleasures are in our face daily. It is hard to conceptualize the forever that follows. Plus, we have an enemy that has already had sentence passed and is looking to gather as much company for his eternal misery as he can (1 Peter 5:8).
It boils down to are we willing to bet on the Bible being wrong and pursue desire as described in Psalm 10 now, or go for broke in following hard after God forever?
In 10:3 – 5 we see that the wicked are characterized as boasting of their heart’s desire, spurning the Lord, and his ways prospering. It is a picture of one who is fiscally successful, if you will, one who is worshiping, successfully, at the altar of commerce. But it could be any other altar, any desire, sex, status, possessions, anything for which one is willing to give their life. You know of people like this, they live lives that overtly deny any god but themselves, craving attention and immediate gratification of their every desire.
Then fast forward to Psalm 16, specifically the first part of verse 4, “…the sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied.” Whoa, on the surface that does not seem to square with what we see, until we put it in context of God’s time.
In relation to eternity, all of recorded history is not even a blip. Our lives are a vapor in the midst of that blip. If the Bible is true, we will live the rest of eternity based on the choices we make during that vapor. So the question becomes are we going to work at maximizing our pleasure during the vapor or invest in preparation for the long haul, eternity. What makes it hard is that we can see now. The challenges and the pleasures are in our face daily. It is hard to conceptualize the forever that follows. Plus, we have an enemy that has already had sentence passed and is looking to gather as much company for his eternal misery as he can (1 Peter 5:8).
It boils down to are we willing to bet on the Bible being wrong and pursue desire as described in Psalm 10 now, or go for broke in following hard after God forever?
Go for broke and follow hard after God forever! As for me and my house we choose God! Invest in preparation for the long haul. Damn the torpedoes of the enemy -- full speed ahead.
ReplyDelete