Prioritizing the Eternal Over the Temporary

Devotional Reading: ‭‭2 Corinthians 4:18 ESV‬‬
As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Have you noticed how certain seasons of life seem to flash by in an instant? Couples get married and before they know it, they’re celebrating 20 years of marriage. Kids are born and seem to grow on a speedy rate and leave home practically over night. It’s funny how that happens, isn’t it?

But so it goes with everything in the temporary realm. It has a timeline, a beginning and an end. It’s a realm of activity, of processes, and of physical needs. It’s the realm where we see both good and evil. There is birth, growth, and death. With all our senses, we can experience God’s gift of creation. With our hands and our minds we can joyfully receive all the great stuff He has given us in the temporary realm.

But this is actually the danger of the temporary realm: It does have a lot of great stuff. And it’s really easy to love stuff—to love stuff more than the One who made it. (That’s like telling God, “I like You, but what I really love is Your stuff, as long as You give it to me.”)

When we lust after the temporary pleasures of this temporary realm, we trade the best for the stuff that’s not even going to last a moment in eternity.

Prayer and Confession
Father, I want more than just Your stuff. I want Your heart, not just Your hand. Thank You for the temporary realm that You have created and the joy that it brings, but I want to live for what is above it. Give me the humble wisdom to allow You to live through me in a way that makes my temporary pursuits be a reflection of all that is eternal. Amen.

Further Reading: Colossians 3:1-3, Matthew 6:33