Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Day 6 - Life Is a Temporary Assignment

Hello,

When you have time, please go back through the past 'Days' because many new comments have been added.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

DAY 6

Point to Ponder: This world is not my home.

Verse to Remember: "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18 (NIV)

Question to Consider: How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now?


-

6 comments:

  1. Knowing everything I possess is temporary, I shouldn't horde it. It's almost a relief to know that we won't be controlled by utility bills, credit cards, mortgages, car payments, etc...

    Life and materials are temporary. It releases me and allows me to be more willing to give to others. Since I have known Lynn, she is always giving things away to friends and family. Clothes, knick-knacks, and food. What a giving heart!

    Time is not my own. I would like to invest more time in people's lives and in helping others.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This chapter really puts our lives here on Earth into perspective. I think that for us as humans, it is so hard for us to wrap our minds around the concept of eternity. We tend to focus on the things that we can see in the here and now , but the Bible tells us that "the things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever." Earthly desires are always changing- things get bigger and better as others fade away, situations and circumstances change, and priorities shift throughout life if one's focus is worldly things. However, God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes and His love for us never changes. He is eagerly anticipating the day that we will join him in Heaven, preparing a place for us to live with Him in eternity. HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?! Really makes worldly things seem petty, doesn't it?

    Realizing that life here on Earth is a temporary assignment makes me want to live each day with a purpose and be able to use each day that I am given to somehow better His kingdom. Whether it is taking time to help someone in need, being a loving wife to my husband, or spending time in worship I hope to use each day that He gives me for His glory. Sometimes I succeed, but sometimes I don't, making me thankful that He gives me His never-ending grace and allows me another day to try again.

    It is very comforting knowing that after this life there is something more... something so great we can't even begin to comprehend how magnificent it will be!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really Like the verse under the chapter heading "Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered, and that my life is fleeing away". I get scared sometimes to pray those prayers like David prayed because God can be a very literal God and I have seen proof in my own life that prayers can be answered very literally and not the way you wanted or expected. To pray for a reminder that my life is short would normally scare me and I probably wouldn't do it for fear of how that would be answered. But I think that in my own life it is important to start praying that way because as I've mentioned before there are sill fears associated with death for me- of what will happen to those left behind. This chapter was so good for me to read and be reminded that those fears are not of God and I am not in control, and to be excited that there is a heaven waiting for me!

    The fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment should change the way I handle life as a day to day experience. I always have great ideas and urges to be a better mom, wife, friend... and I always think- oh well, today's over I'll try this or that tomorrow- and usually never do. I should definately change that way of thinking. The days slip by like minutes and the next thing I know I never improved or did those things I should have done years ago. I need to improve and live for God in the moment and not put it off until tomorrow. Last night, it was after midnight and I was ready to call it a day. I looked at the dishes in the sink and like so many times told myself I'll do them in the morning. Then I had that small, still voice tell me to get them done and I did and it gave me such a feeling of accomplishment- from just washing the dishes. But that's what I need to start doing, with small and big things. I need my priorities to get in check and start doing what God wants me to and not what Lynn wants to do.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I try to remember that who I become during my time on earth (because I'm a work in progress) will be forever engraved in my soul. Where my soul goes after it leaves this body is up to God. I hope to be a peaceful soul, and I hope to become useful in my life after this earthly one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I loved reading how we are just visitors and to care for everything that is ours as if it isn't because after all everything is just borrowed for now. My grandmother told my mom that she has been called home, before she died. I'm happy to hear that now as before I really did not understand.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Colleen,

    It sounds like your grandmother had the right perspective about her real home being in heaven.
    Very cool!

    ReplyDelete