Temporary Things

We live each day investing our time in things, events, pursuits as though they are permanent, but it really comes down to just these two things…

I’m going to pull a ‘church lady’ here, so bear with me. You might even want to imagine the next words being said with a Southern accent, although I am not considered Southern – probably more country than Southern, truth be told.  (But I do love me some Paula Dean!)

OK, here goes: I’m really happy to be asked to share space on this site with other women who love Jesus…

and who don’t whitewash the truth about their lives and their spiritual walk.

(Oops, that last part slipped out!) 😉

I’m a lifelong learner. In fact, way back in the day before it was the hip thing to do, I home educated our three children for 13 years for somewhat selfish reasons – because it was so much fun for me to learn that cool stuff with them! They were seldom as enthralled by those science experiments as I was, for some reason.

Despite a Master’s in Theology and a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, decades of volunteer service, or jobs, it is my enduring 45 year marriage to a man who is practically a saint, (he’d probably agree with me after living with this crazy lady since I was practically a BABY!) our 3 incredibly talented adult children, their loving, wonderful spouses, and our 6 greater-than-grand grandchildren are the greatest gifts, blessings and ‘achievements’ I can count as my treasures before God. During seasons when I grasp for measurable rewards or accolades for things these hands or this brain begin to believe they have accomplished, the Spirit nudges me back, (or if necessary, shoves me,) to the reality of 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NKJV):

…while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.  For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

“For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” If it was possible, it might help me to have that tattooed in fluorescent ink on my eyelids as a reminder that all the razzle-dazzle of this life – be it material things, awards, praise, the next goal realized, whatever rings your chimes or mine – is tem -po – rar – y…

…as in fades away like that bright red beach towel that was in the sun too long

…as in it dies like I wish the weeds in my flower beds would

…as in it doesn’t last any longer than a middle-school crush.

Temporary – not permanent, as the dictionary simply states it.

Yet, we live each day investing our time in things, events, pursuits as though they ARE permanent, as though our very breath, our entire existence depends on them, as though they are – well – eternal. According to Paul, and I believe he’s on solid ground with God here, the only things which are lasting forever, are NOT seen…

Huh?

Yeah; seems weird, but it makes more sense when we recall what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21 (NKJV):

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So, you might be asking, or need a nudge toward reminding, what – out of all the affairs of life in which we heavily invest – is eternal?  Surprisingly, only two…the Word of God…and people.

Everything else, as Charles Swindoll so eloquently put it in a 2015 article, “is headed for the final bonfire,” (2 Peter 3:7; 1 Peter 1:25 NKJV).

Jesus said in Matthew 24:35 (NIV):

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. 

That sounds pretty “eternal” to me.

I John 2:17 (NKJV) encourages us with this:

And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

It’s sobering, really, when I consider all the hours, days, years I have invested in stuff that will be burned up.  I’m not implying that all was vain, but much of what I spent striving for, worrying about, stressing over falls into the “temporary” file.

...much of what I spent striving for, worrying about, stressing over falls into the 'temporary' file. Click To Tweet

Do you remember the credit card commercial asking us, “What’s in your wallet?” Dumb commercial, but for some reason, it makes me think about those two things that are eternal.  What’s in my ‘eternal’ file?

I just wonder, who will be in eternity with me because I invested God’s Word in them?

Who will be in eternity because of your investment?

Annie Spratt