The struggle a lot of Christians have with the right perspective of life is caused by the peculiar nature of this modern age. Take the harmless statement for instance:
“You will get there!”
Years back, Christians would consider “there” in this statement as Heaven. Today, however, our interpretation of 'there' borders mostly around material things. Times have indeed changed and along with it, our view of life.
The Conflict
When we speak of 'Eternal', it is to describe something that lasts forever such as the Spirit realm or heaven. God is Himself eternal. 'Temporal' however denotes something that doesn't last forever such as the physical realm or material things.
There are some Christians who believe that the eternal is more real than the temporal so they focus on 'Heavenly' things to the sorry neglect of everyday realities like financial empowerment, marriage, parenthood and grooming among others. The pitfall in this kind of reasoning is that though God is eternal, He is active in our temporal world. He provides for us, heals our sicknesses and delivers us from calamities; indeed He rules in the affairs of men.
In fact, God had to become (temporal) man in order to fulfill the eternal purpose of saving mankind from the power of sin and Satan. (See Phil 2:5-7)
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
On the other hand, there are some who think that because the eternal cannot be touched or seen physically, it is in fact illusionary, while the physical is concrete. This too is unscriptural and the result of this kind of thinking is a life of indulgence, where values are determined by fame, wealth and influence. Since we live in a temporal world but are destined for an eternal home, wouldn't it be wise to view our lives here from an eternal perspective?
To this end, four areas of human interaction will be considered as we attempt to apply eternal perspective to our daily lives. These are: Ministry, Money, Love and Reward. In this edition we shall consider ministry.
Eternal Perspective in Ministry
Today, we have varied ideas of what ministry should look like. To some, it has to have an organizational face or structure, to others, it is social or community development, and yet another group see ministry as just 'preaching'. True 'Ministry' should therefore be Christian service and it is not an exclusive preserve of pastors, church leaders or workers. Every Christian is required by God to be active in the service of building God's kingdom here on earth. Whichever way we choose to define it, the recurrent theme is that the focus of Christian service is SOULS.
In Matthew 10:28, Jesus tells of the indestructible nature of man's soul:
“And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
The soul is Eternal.
Jesus again says in Matthew 16:26:
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
The soul is not only eternal but according to Jesus, it is the most important thing on this side of creation. It was worth God Himself coming to die as a man for the sins of mankind. (See John3:16)
God's Agenda
Friend, true Christian service is all and only about souls. Ministry IS getting the soul saved through Christ and strengthening the saved in the faith. Q.E.D! This earns us Heaven's applause more than any humanitarian or social service we're so caught up with nowadays. Though it is good and commendable, the well being of the soul is of greater priority in true Christian service and the most effective tool of achieving this through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We live in a world where the gospel of Jesus Christ offends people's sensibilities and so many refrain from sharing the good news of Jesus' death and resurrection in a bid to look good or to be respected by men.
The 'enlightened ones' among us resort to taking advantage of the peculiar economic situation in Africa to 'seduce' sinners to a life of unprecedented financial bounty that only Christianity can offer. The result? Many who claim to be born again but did not repent from their sinful nature; more 'Christians' with more corruption; more 'God bless me, myself and mine' praying folks or better still, more “Any enemy against my progress, fall down and die!” prayer warriors.
The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ doesn't speak to your bank account or your situation; IT SPEAKS TO YOUR SOUL!
Paul said in Romans 1:16:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
The gospel of Jesus death and resurrection is heaven's tool to save an eternal soul from eternal damnation in hell.
Beloved, do you do Christian service with eternity in view? Maybe it started that way but along the way the cares of this life, the applause of men or the deceitfulness of riches caught up with you. The good news is that you can always repent and once again partake in heaven's agenda for mankind the salvation of souls.
Do you question your salvation experience in the light of these truths? Then repent of your sins and embrace the true gospel that declares that Jesus died for your sins and was raised for your justification. Are you considering some ministry endeavors? I reckon that we must view our lives here on earth through “eternity lenses”.