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Valuing the Eternal

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.”
Luke 9:23–24
The first two English missionaries who attempted to reach the inhabitants of the New Hebrides islands in the South Pacific were killed and eaten by the cannibals only a few minutes after they arrived. For some time after that, no one else was willing to go there with the gospel. Finally, in 1858, John Paton and his wife determined to risk the dangers to reach the lost of those islands. One of the elders of the church discouraged the effort, warning, “You will be eaten by cannibals!” John Paton responded, “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honoring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms.”
The world tells us that we should cling to our lives and do everything possible to defend them. But God’s call for us is different. He values the eternal over the temporal, and He is not looking for people to be focused on this life. The Christian life is not about being safe and comfortable; it is about investing in the eternal, and that requires self-denial and sacrifice. Taking up the cross to follow Jesus is a descriptive metaphor. Dr. Curtis Huston used to say, “A crucified man has no plans of his own for the future.” Rather than focusing on how we can get the most for ourselves, like Jesus we should focus on how we can give the most to others.
 

Today’s Growth Principle: 

If we care about what God cares about and make it our priority, there will be great eternal rewards.

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Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”   --Luke 21:1-4 In times like this, it’s easy to want to hunker down and hold on to everything we have. It’s especially hard for those who are out of work or those who’ve been forced to take a reduction in pay. I really do understand that it’s harder to give when there’s not as much there to give as there once was! Yet at the same time, think about the poor widow in today’s passage who gave everything she had to give to God’s work. While her gift wasn’t worth much monetarily, it was worth much… it was sacred… because she sacrificed to give it. In the same way, your gifts to the Lord’s work and my gifts to the Lord’s work are made sacred when they come from a sacrificial heart. Yet how many of us really give this way? How many really make a sacrifice in some area of life, how many are willing to give up a comfort, so that we can contribute to God’s work? Far too few, I’m afraid. That’s why today, my question is simple. When it comes to the church and God’s Kingdom work in the world today, are you a giver… or a taker? And if you’d admit that maybe you tip the scale to the side of being more of a taker, what’s one way you could start giving more to God’s work today? Maybe it’s as simple as getting your family on a budget so that you can be better stewards of the income God’s given you. Maybe it means cutting out cable television for a while. Maybe it means delaying that purchase, or going out to eat less so that you can give more to your church and God’s work around the world today. I don’t know what your particular situation is, but I do know that as Christians living in America, we’ve grown accustomed to certain comforts and privileges. I just wonder how many more lives could be reached if every Christian sacrificed one thing so that they could give more to God’s work? WHEN IT COMES TO THE CHURCH AND GOD’S KINGDOM WORK IN THE WORLD TODAY, ARE YOU A GIVER… OR A TAKER?