Will it Seem Important 1,000 Years from Now?

Does Eternity Determine Your Values?

Richard Hollerman

As our days go by and they add up to weeks, then months, and eventually years, what thoughts go through your mind? We all see the passing of time and may lament how our life seems to go by so quickly, but how do we evaluate all of this? What’s the bottom line in the passing of time and your lifespan?

Maybe you lose a friend or loved one at a young age. You expected this person to live a “ripe old age” of seventy, eighty, or even ninety, but the person succumbed to cancer at age 20, or a car accident at age 30, or a heart attack at age 40. It didn’t seem right. It was entirely unexpected. You are convinced it was unjust. But it happened and now you must find some rational explanation for the person’s life on earth. You try to make sense of it all and ask, “What was the purpose in my friend’s life? What did he accomplish? What of lasting worth did he do?”

Day by day you may glance at the obituary notices, with the deceased person’s photo and life record, but it seems to “wrong” and unreasonable. How do we explain how long someone lives and why they lived? But death is with us and we can’t deny it.

When these kinds of things happen to you, how do you view your own life? Do you sometimes ask yourself, “Since I, too, will one day die and be put into the ground, what am I doing with my life? How am I using it now? What do I have to show for it? When I am gone, what remains? And what can I do now so that I can have something that survives death?” These are sobering questions but they are ones that any wise and thoughtful person should ask.

Jesus told the account of two men in Luke 16. One was wise and the other was foolish. The first man was rich and “habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day” (v. 19). The other man  lived a wretched life of sickness and poverty. The Lord doesn’t describe much about these men and what they thought of God, but we assume that the first man had no interest in the Lord or living for Him. The poor man must have lived with God in mind and lived for eternity. But we do know this: after death, the conditions of these men were reversed. The former rich man was in “torment” and “agony” in the flames (vv. 23-25, 28), whereas the other man enjoyed “good things” and was “comforted” (v. 25). The rich man couldn’t take anything with him to “the other side,” whereas the poor man had blessing, joy, and abundance in the afterlife.

This may teach us several things. We need to live for God right here and now if we expect our eternal situation to be a blessed one.  We don’t know the actual time of our departure, thus we need to live for the Lord day by day. We need to lovingly focus on others and their needs rather than selfishly accumulate riches without regard for others. We need to take advantage of present opportunities in life for they will have a direct bearing on our condition after death. As we read the remainder of the Bible, we notice that we must make sure of forgiveness, salvation, and reconciliation with God now for there will be no “second chance” after death. After death comes the judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

When we are young, it seems that all kinds of wants, desires, pastimes, hobbies, and interests may be found in our life. A child may want to visit a zoo, or go to a sporting event, or get a computer game, or go on a vacation. As an adult, you may know that these occupations are not that important in the long run, but the child may fill his or her mind with them. He dreams about that vacation. He reads about a hobby. He watches TV on a particular subject. Regardless of the way you pass off their interest as being unimportant, they seem obsessed with it.

In one respect, adults may also be preoccupied with a variety of interests. Their mind becomes filled with all kinds of things—going to an exciting ball game, making a special deal on the job, earning a bonus in the office, having a date with a new acquaintance, buying a new car, or watching a favorite TV program. Like the case of the child, the adult seems to be oblivious to the frivolity of his pursuits. Those things that fill our mind and attention are really not crucial to our health or future. They are passing playthings that mean nothing to God and should mean nothing to us!

Jesus gave a parable that went like this: “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do; I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods” (Luke 12:16-18). Doesn’t this sound very contemporary? People are consumed with the desire for money and possessions. They want to earn more, save more, and find ways to increase his investments.

The account continues: “’And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’” Not long ago, I read something about investing money for retirement. It would seem that this kind of goal is a consuming passion for some people. Money, money, money is their theme. Others make possessions their ambition. Still others are fixated on their house—repairs, renovations, furnishings, lands, and everything else pertaining to their dwelling places. And we know that many have food as their focus of attention in life. Restaurants, new recipes, eating too much, feasting, and entertaining—all of this becomes dominant in their life.

God says that one who fills his life with possessions (or any other pastimes or interests) is a “fool”! The rich man was so focused on the present and that which is passing that he entirely forgot about preparation for life after death. As God soberly said, “This very night your soul is required of you!” We don’t know when our end will be! We have no way of knowing whether our plans will be fulfilled. It is all in God’s hands. James puts it this way:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that” (James 4:13-15).

We just don’t know what a day may bring forth (cf. Proverbs 27:1). We are just a vapor, a fog, a breath, a flower, and after a short stay on earth, we die. Yes, Die. Many of us don’t like to think of death, but that is exactly what will happen to us. We’ll die and leave it all behind! “We have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either” (1 Timothy 6:7).

How did Jesus end His account of the foolish rich man?  He said, “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). I often think of this when I learn of someone who has worked hard and accumulated piles of fine possessions and money—bank accounts, investments, new cars, a vacation home, fine clothes, rich furniture, cruises in the Caribbean, and so much more. I ponder: Has this person only pursued earthly things? My guess is that such a person probably didn’t even give a measly tithe (10% of his gross income) to the Lord. He could have easily given 20 percent, 30 percent, or even 50 percent of his income to the Lord and spiritual causes, but he may have been content with a mere five percent—or nothing! He thinks that he deserves the best things in life since he earned it! But he has left God out of his thinking! Like the foolish rich man, he has stored up “treasure for him, and is not rich toward God.”

Maybe you remember Christ’s warnings about earthly possessions: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and were thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).

Just how do we store up treasure in heaven? We do this by “investing” in heavenly things for God and for the Lord Jesus, such as blessing the lives of others through material means, by helping the poor, by sharing the good news of Christ with the lost, and by instructing and edifying the people of God (cf. Matthew 19:21; Luke 12:21, 33; 18:22; 1 Timothy 6:9-10, 17-19; Hebrews 13:5; James 5:2).

To do the will of God takes an entirely different frame of mind than what we naturally have. To store up treasure for ourselves and seek our own pleasure is the natural way, but to be rich toward God is the spiritual way. If we are living for eternity and not for this earth, we must definitely seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. We must set our mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (Colossians 3:1-2). We must have a complete reorientation in our heart that will redirect our life into the ways and purposes of God! This will run counter to what the world around us does!

We began by asking the question, “Will this seem important 1,000 years from now?” We could have referred to 1 million, 1 billion, 1 trillion, or 1 quadrillion years from now! Eternity is endless! It will have no end!  So what will seem most important then?

Ask yourself this question before you make any decision—large or small—and you may find your view of life radically changed! Think of the things that occupy the mind and life of your neighbor, your fellow worker, your family, your cousins, your fellow-students, and others. And think of what fills your own mind and consumes your time. Let’s mention a few people, pastimes, pleasures, and things here so you can ponder the answers and gain some insight into your own perspectives:

1. The TV that you view
2. The music you listen to
3. The books and other literature you read
4. The courses you take at college
5. The friends you cultivate
6. The way you spend your Friday and Saturday nights
7. The relationship you have with your husband or wife, your children, and your parents
8. The relationship you have with your immediate neighbors
9. The clothes you wear
10. The computer sites you go to
11. The video games you engage in
12. The emailing you do
13. The sports you watch
14. The sports that you engage in
15. The job training you have had
16. The position you fill
17. The store shopping that you do
18. The things you buy and accumulate
19. The car you drive
20. The way you use your time
21. The vacations that you take
22. The sleep you take
23. The conversations that you have had

These points may help you to pinpoint ways that you are living for time and not for eternity. Honestly ask yourself this question: 1,000 years from now, what will seem most important to you? Will you wish that you had watched more TV programs, or gone to more ball games, or taken more college courses, or read more magazines, or gone to more stockcar races or horse races? Or do you think that your values will have changed?

Will you wish that you had invested more money, energy, and time in spiritual pursuits? Will you wish that you had not spent so much on yourself and given more to the poor, the weak, the “have nots”? Will you wish that you had spent more time reading and studying God’s Word, praying and singing to the Lord, going to Bible studies and Christian fellowships? Will you wish that you had devoted more of an interest in blessing your husband or wife, your children, your parents, and others you know? Will you wish that you had taken more of an interest in spreading the message of Christ with others or sharing the Word of God with professing Christians? Will you wish that you had shared Bible tracts or Christian literature with others, that they may learn of the way to heaven? In fact, do you think you will wish you had diligently spent quality time to discover God’s will for your life and learned whether you actually were on the way to heaven or actually were on the way to hell?

One thousand years from now, how will you wish you had used your time, money, and possessions? For yourself—or for God? For your own interests or for the interests of God? Paul wrote to Timothy, “They all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:21). Are you one of those who seek your own interests—or are you like Timothy and seek after the interests of Christ Jesus?

Quite frankly, if we look out on the general population, we must admit that the vast majority of people are occupied with material things, means of entertainment, sexually stimulating things, activities that simply waste time, and like pursuits. Very, very few are overwhelmed and dominated with a passion for the Lord Jesus and an interest in carrying out His will on earth. What about you? Only you can answer this. In fact, it is hard for you to do this yourself since most people are self-deceived and are blind to their own faults. “The heart is more deceitful than all else” (Jeremiah 17:9). Ask God to remove your blinders and help you to view yourself clearly and honestly. This is the only way.

When you do see yourself as God sees you, be willing to grieve over your sin and repent of them. Place your sincere faith in God through Jesus Christ, His Son, and then proceed to be baptized into Christ to begin a new life for Him. God will make you a new creation in Jesus and will prepare you for His eternal Kingdom (see John 3:16-18, 36; 5:24; 11:25-26; Romans 5:6-11; 6:3-11; Acts 2:38-39; 22:16). “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Please feel free to write for further information on how you can live for God and Christ Jesus now so that you will be able to live with the Lord in eternity. Now is the time to prepare!