Life Is A Temporary Assignment

 

 

 

What on Earth Am I Here For?

 

 

A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump;

a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.

Proverbs 11:28

 

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord....

They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with

roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees

are not bothered by the heat or worried by long

months of drought. Their leaves stay green,

and they go right on producing delicious fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

 

Life Is a Temporary Assignment

 

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.

Psalm 39:4

 

I am here on earth for just a little while.

Psalm 119:19

 

Life on earth is a temporary assignment.

The Bible is full of metaphors that teach about the brief,

temporary, transient nature of life on earth.

Life is described as

a mist, a fast runner, a breath, and a wisp of smoke.

"For we were born but yesterday...

Our days on earth are as transient as a shadow."

Job 8:9

 

To make the best use of your life,

you must never forget two truths:

First, compared with eternity, life is extremely brief.

Second, earth is only a temporary residence.

You won't be here long, so don't get too attached.

David prayed,

"Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be.

Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more."

Psalm 39:4

 

The Bible uses terms like alien, pilgrim, foreigner, stranger,

visitor, and traveler to describe our brief stay on earth.

David said,

"I am but a foreigner here on earth,"

Psalm 119:19

and Peter explained,

"If you call God your Father,

live your time as temporary residents on earth."

1 Peter 1:17

"All they think about is this life here on earth.

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives."

Philippians 3:19-20

 

Your identity is in eternity, and your homeland is heaven.

"You're cheating on God.

If all you want is your own way,

flirting with the world every chance you get,

you end up enemies of God and his way."

James 4:4

 

"We are Christ's ambassadors."

2 Corinthians 5:20

"Friends, this world is not your home,

so don't make yourselves cozy in it.

Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul."

1 Peter 2:11

"Those in frequent contact with the things of the world

should make good use of them without becoming attached to them,

for this world and all it contains will pass away."

1 Corinthians 7:31

 

Only as we remember that life is a test, a trust, and a temporary assignment

will the appeal of these things lose their grip on our lives.

We are preparing for something even better.

"The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow.

But the things we can't see now will last forever."

2 Corinthians 4:18b

 

The fact that earth is not our ultimate home explains why,

as followers of Jesus, we experience difficulty, sorrow, and rejection in this world.

John 16:33; 16:20; 15:18-19

 

Earth is not our final home;

we were created for something much better.

You will never feel completely satisfied on earth,

because you were made for more.

As C. S. Lewis observed,

"All that is not eternal is eternally useless."

"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

 

Never focus on temporary crowns.

1 Peter 2:11

The Bible says this about God's Hall of Fame:

"All these great people died in faith.

They did not get the things that God promised his people,

but they saw them coming far in the future and were glad.

They said they were like visitors and strangers on earth...

they were waiting for a better country—a heavenly country.

So God is not ashamed to be called their God,

because he has prepared a city for them."

Hebrews 11:13, 16

 

Your time on earth is not the complete story of your life.

"But my child, you're not home yet."

"Why did I place so much importance on things that were so temporary?

What was I thinking?

Why did I waste so much time, energy, and concern

on what wasn't going to last?"

At death you won't leave home—you'll go home.

 

 

 

 

DAY SIX

Thinking About My Purpose

 

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 termporary,

but what is unseen is eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:18

Question to Consider; How should the fact that life on earth is

just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now? 

 

p 47~52

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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