Every day we are faced with the choice to live for eternity or the passing pleasures of this world. How will our lives matter? How will they affect the lives of men and women all of eternity? What will our legacy be? These are essential questions that we must all answer for ourselves.
Hebrews 11:13–16 (NKJV) “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.”
As we open Genesis 11, we follow the godless life of Nimrod making his choice to abandon the God of his fathers. He decided to build a tower in Babel. While God loves cities and the people dwelling in cities, this tower was not built with a motivation to worship God. The tower of Babel was built as men were gathering in cities, building significant buildings, and creating memorials to themselves. They were settling down, living lives that excluded God’s awe, wonder, and worship. In contrast to the loud, busy city life, Abram receives a call from God personally to leave home to a city that is yet unknown to him. He’s to follow God in simple faith, trusting that what is ahead for him is far more valuable than what is currently filling his life.
Genesis 12:1–3 (NKJV) “Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
This struggle between simple faith and forgetting eternity is still with us today. Will I live only for today, or will I live with eternity in mind? Will I live building my brand, my name, my little kingdom, or will I live to make God’s name famous? Will my life be filled with self-effort or total surrender?
Galatians 2:20–21 (NKJV) “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
What are you building, and how long will it last? Pastor Chuck Smith has taught us many times over this familiar reminder, “Only one life will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Invest your life in that which lasts!
