Posted on by intentional4christ

Eternity in our hearts

For the past few weeks I have been feeling such great unrest: the kind that feels like an emptiness to be filled, a hunger to be satisfied, or a thirst to be quenched. I have been mulling over what the source of this nagging feeling could be and in church this week I finally understood exactly what it is. Eternity has been calling out to me.

Yes, I know this seems like a very odd phrasing but bear with me for a few minutes and I will explain. Over the last little while, I have been longing for the presence of God more than ever, I have been hungry for times of intense worship and prayer, and for good fellowship with others. Every time I hear a good sermon, I am left with this longing for more of God and his Word. At night when I lay down to sleep, I dream of loved ones who have exchanged their mortal shells for immortal ones and I yearn for their company again. Its been unnerving because I have all that I need and yet I feel like there is something lacking.

Today, in church, I was reminded of a scripture from the book of Ecclesiastes 3 and then it all made sense. Lets read together:

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT [Emphasis added]

Finally, today I have been able to put words to the void I am feeling. It is the call of eternity: a reminder that there is something beyond the everyday grind of life. The passage in Ecclesiastes reminds us that God has placed eternity in the heart of everyone. Day in and day out, eternity calls out to us. Some feel this as a sense of urgency; some describe it as feeling of a larger purpose to life; others might describe it as a feeling of transcendence.

When ever anyone talks of eternity, we naturally think of death and immortality. And while that is not wrong, there is more to eternity than just living forever after death. Eternity is not simply a construct of time, which is why even though we all have a sense of eternity we cannot fully grasp it as Ecclesiastes 3 tells us. Eternity is wrapped up in the very nature and character of God who is Himself the beginning and the end (Revelations 1:8); the One who existed before time began. The call of eternity is not as much about time as it is a call to relationship with a God who created us for solely that purpose: to be in relationship with Him. John 17:3 tells us what eternal life is:

Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

John 17:3 BSB [Emphasis added]

Eternal life is about having a personal relationship with a God and this begins right here on earth. Relationship between God and humankind has been severed and broken by sin. As Ecclesiastes 7:29 so aptly states, “…God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path” (NLT). And that feeling I have just described, that call of eternity, is the beacon that calls us to turn away from our downward path and find our way back into fellowship with God. It signals to us that there is something missing in our lives.

Unfortunately, we live in such a broken and perverse world which has responds to the call of eternity with the mantra YOLO! The world screams, “you only live once!” “you have just one life to live so make it count!” And while I do not disagree with the premise, our secular world does not offer a thirsty or hungry soul any more than a fear of missing out (FOMO). Instead of seeing the void in our hearts as a God-sized void, we are encouraged to pursue adrenaline-pumping activities as a response to eternity’s call. Afterall, YOLO! The world pursues knowledge and understanding in the form of scientific discoveries to make sense of and give purpose and meaning to life. But you see, this also does not answer eternity’s call because scripture is clear: “…the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). This scripture underscores the importance of knowing God personally and intimately as the path to true understanding.

Generation after generation, God has patiently waited for humankind to come back to Him and He has even helped us along with a beacon – eternity in our hearts – so we can find our way home. For me, I feel eternity in my heart as a longing for more of God. What about you? Do you hear the call of eternity in your heart?

Over the next few weeks I will be exploring how I am responding to the call of eternity as I journey with a few friends through the book of Revelations. Stay tuned for more.

Yours Truly.

Posted on by intentional4christ

The Economics of Eternity: God or Money?

Last month I discovered something about myself: I have an unhealthy relationship with money. My everyday thoughts and functioning is subsumed by what I term “the economics of money in action” i. e. earning money, buying goods and services, paying for bills and utilities- it takes over your life completely. I realized my first thought in the day is about the everyday cares of this world and my last thought at night is about the cares of this world. As I have reflected about my relationship with money, I have come to realize how pervasive it is, even to the extent that all my relationships have become somewhat defined by the economics of money. My dealings with family, friends, colleagues, bosses, significant others, children, and even acquaintances have money at the center of it. Many of my friendships and relationships have been built on the capital of me giving of my time and resources (cash and kind) and while this is not necessarily a bad thing, God has been pushed away from center place in my life as the economics of money has taken centrality in my thoughts and actions. This poses some major problems.

First, money is fleeting and with it, the joy and stability it brings. Unfortunately, when we build on the foundation of the economics of money, the relationships, worldviews, and foundational principles are anchored in a system of shifting sand. Money comes and money goes and nothing that is built on this ephemeral concept has eternal value. Jesus told a parable to illustrate this:

“The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!” ’But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated? This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Luke 12: 16-21 BSB

It is even more problematic when our relationship with God is built on the currency of the economics of money. Our prayers stop having Kingdom impact as we turn inwards to ask for our daily bread and our daily bread alone. Most prayers, like mine have been for the past 19 years, become about God’s blessing to make us comfortable in this world. Our trust in God is built on God’s ability to answer our prayer requests to meet our physical, material, and economic needs and has very little to do with the fact that He is God. How dependable God is judged by how quickly our prayers for things that have earthly value are answered or how quickly these prayers manifest into reality. Over the years, I have stopped praying for things that I think God may not answer quickly enough or may be too “big” for God to handle so I am not “disappointed in God”. Many of us have relinquished God to a genie in the bottle whose sole purpose is to serve me and grant me my wishes. Afterall, God operates on principles and so if I give like He instructs in scripture (tithes and offerings) to then He has no choice than to bless me. Such is a life that tries to build a relationship with God on the economics of money.

Jesus knew that besides sin, money has the greatest potential to keep us chained to this fleeting world so we are swept away with it at the end of all ages. He described the economics of money as mammon. The term mammon stems from the Greek word mammonas and related root words appear in Hebrew, Latin, and Aramaic. Mammon can be defined as “earthly goods, property, riches, etc.” Mammon are the things of this world that can divert our attention and love from God to the pleasures and comforts of earthly desires. Jesus theorized that there are two masters in this world, God and mammon and one can only serve one master at a time.

No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Matthew 6:24 BSB

Although mammon can provide fleeting happiness, ultimately it is a deadly distraction from the salvation of our souls. However, God in his goodness for us did not leave us helpless to the wiles of mammon. That is why He showed us the secret of how to overcome this dilemma. He encouraged us to seek His Kingdom first and leave the economics of money to God to take care of.

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need…”

Matthew 6: 31-33 NLT

Here is the secret: If you seek God and give Him centrality in your heart and life, the economics of money follows and you also store treasures that are of eternal value. But if the economics of money has centrality, it will consume you and at the end of times it will profit nothing you will lose it all; you will have no heavenly investments.

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?

Mark 8:36 NLT

Today, I encourage you to reflect on which master you serve on a daily basis by examining what percentage of your day is devoted to God or to mammon. Compare how often you think about what you will eat or feed the family, what you wear, economic opportunities, paying bills and utilities, exchanging of material goods and services against how often you think about God’s kingdom being established on earth and your role in this endeavor, the masses coming to the saving grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, the whole earth being filled with the glory of God and the part you play in this etc. Ask yourself, “who or what has centrality in my life? God or mammon?”

Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Matthew 6:19-21 NLT

Yours Truly.

Posted on by intentional4christ · 1 Comment

Today is the Day!

Sometime in October of 2023, I went over all my goals for the year and realized I had fallen behind on so many of them (one of which was to post to the blog every week). Feeling discouraged, I decided that since too much of the year had passed to accomplish some of those goals, I would just wait till the new year and then start afresh. However, there was a scripture that kept tugging at my heart:

As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” 

Hebrews 3:15 NIV

Today. Not next year, not next month, not next week, today! Many times, we take for granted that tomorrow is not guaranteed us and we put off for tomorrow what we can do today. January is a month where people push for change and it is a good time for change. Afterall, its the start of a new year! Many people just like myself will make new year’s resolutions and set goals for themselves to achieve through out the year and many of us will fall off the wagon of some of our resolutions before the month is out. Here are two thoughts on the matter- the first comes from my daughter’s devotional, and the second is a lesson from 2023:

First, before going through all the effort of trying to fulfill our goals whatever they may be, why not first slow down and submit them to God? Remember “in their hearts humans plan their course but the LORD establishes their steps (Proverbs 16:9 NIV).” God wants us to submit our plans to him- our wonderful ideas for a successful 2024 and ask Him what He wants to work on this January and Febrauary and every month thereafter. In doing this, you will find a satisfying journey with a Friend rather than an exhausting and lonely marathon to accomplishing your goals.

Secondly, if you start to renege on your goals- perhaps you have already missed a few days of your 365-day bible reading plan, or your exercise regime, or you have already fallen back into patterns and behaviours you were hoping to change this year, it is not too late to course correct. It is never ever too late to fix what is broken, to jump back into relationship with God, to take care of your emotional, physical, and spiritual health, to let go of that hurt or guilt, to forgive…today is the day. Although bright hope for eternity is promised us, another day on this side of eternity is not guaranteed to anyone.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” 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.

James 4: 13- 14 NIV

So today is the day. Whatever it is that you are putting off, today is the day.

Yours Truly

Posted on by intentional4christ

Advent Calendar day 12: Heavenly Citizenship

Have you ever heard a song and felt so drawn to it? It is an almost unexplainable phenomenon. There is something ethereal that strikes a cord deep within you and draws you in… you feel the weight of each note even though they possess a delicate quality to them… Well… like I said very unexplainable phenomenon and for many years I have tried to understand this. In today’s reading, a scripture caught my eye which gave me a tiny glimpse into understanding that phenomenon.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet  no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV

That call I experience when I listen to hymns and other spiritual songs is the sound of home. We are all citizens of heaven. Everyone from every nation, tribe or tongue on earth shares one citizenship: a heavenly one and many times that very nature calls to us. Some experience it in music, some in nature, some through human connectedness etc.

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

Philippians 3: 20-21

And while we are here on earth, we all at one point feel this call of eternity which God has set in each of our hearts. It is like a beacon that reminds us that we have another home and God makes it easy for us to find our way back home. This is through Jesus His Only son who himself is the WAY back to God and back home.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:19-20 NLT, NIV

So next time you walk through nature, or listen to a song or feel this connectedness to something bigger than yourself- something that calls to your very soul, remember God has placed eternity in your heart to encourage you that a home beyond this one.

Yours Truly

Posted on by intentional4christ

Advent Calendar day 6: Being Godly

A few years ago, I used to live for the now. My life was so busy and I was so preoccupied with making it through each day that I did not have the space or time to think about eternity. And whenever, I did, thinking about death or dying filled me with so much dread because I always felt unprepared for the thereafter.

One day, I had a switch in my thinking. I cannot recall if it was a sermon I heard, or something on the radio, or God’s gentle admonishing to me but something changed. I started to think about living life with heaven in view each day. I determined within myself to do whatever I needed to do to feel prepared for the thereafter each day. Today’s reading is an encouragement for how we can live life with eternity in view:

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

1 Timothy 4: 8 NIV

Every thing we do on earth has eternal ramifications. Day in and day out, we are setting ourselves up for what comes next. Paul presents us with a tool to help us prepare for the afterlife: godliness. Many things that we strive for on earth are ephemeral- short-lived- and have no eternal value. Godliness on the other hand is eternal currency and is valuable in the afterlife. Jesus said it best in one of his teachings:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6: 19-21 NIV

As you reflect and take stock of 2021, ask yourself, “Am I godly?” and be intentional in practicing godliness- it is of great gain.

Yours Truly