Psalm 90:8-10 You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. All our days pass away under Your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away.
Ecclesiastes 7:14 When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future.
John 14:1-4 Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going tree to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.
James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
In the midst of the hustle and bustle of our busy day-to-day, it is very easy to get caught up with what’s directly in front of us. We get so concerned with deadlines we have to meet, tasks we need to complete, bills we need to pay, and goals we need to achieve that we lose sight of the bigger picture, what’s really, truly, and ultimately of the utmost importance.
Having goals, ambition, and being responsible are good qualities to possess–they are very necessary qualities to possess. But the moment we take put more stock in our temporary, physical lives more so than our eternal, spiritual lives is the moment we lose our perspective and become extremely short sighted.
On earth, there is only so much we can do. We are limited beings only here for a very short, limited time. There is so much more than this life. When we prepare and make provisions so that we are secure in this life without taking that same care and consideration for the next, we are making a grave decision. What is seventy to eighty years of our earthly lives compared to eternity? God did not put us on this planet with the intentions of us remaining here. Our years here will quickly pass. While we’re here, it is so crucial that we make every effort to connect with our Savior–to know Him and to be known by Him. Make a difference in this world, while keeping Christ and His kingdom at the forefront of your mind at all times. Do everything for His glory and not your own. Work, not to advance yourself, but to glorify God. Allow Him to advance you rather than you trying to do it on your own. He can take you so much further than you ever could dream.
In the grand scheme of things, the amount of control we have over anything is very little. But what we do have control over is whether or not we will submit our hearts, our lives, and our desires to Christ. Keep the proper perspective, knowing that you do have a temporary life here but have one so much better waiting for you, if you keep Him first, follow Him, and don’t get sidetracked by the world and its fleeting cares.