Day 2744 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Matthew 16:25 NIV

We've all tried to find happiness, peace, meaning, and purpose for our lives by pouring ourselves into brainstorming our idea of perfection and then giving ourselves over to doing whatever it takes to build those ivory towers that we can climb up in and simply enjoy the rest of our stay on this earth. But as we keep digging into this worldly soil in order to pour a foundation that those pedestals can stand upon, we don't seem to realize that we just keep digging the very pits of shame and selfishness that have led us to being miserable and unsatisfied.

We just keep digging ourselves deeper into the darkness that we’ve long been so desperate to climb out of and leave behind.

In trying to carve out a life for ourselves in this place, we slowly but surely forget that we're not meant to build lives here. This isn't the ground in which we're called to plant our roots. This earth isn't where we're going to stay forever, and yet so many of us live as if these lives in this world are literally all that matter. And so we get to work building them, carving them, perfecting them, dreaming of ways to make this time and these lives everything we want them to be. Yet, as we keep grabbing that shovel to dig a little deeper into the ways of this world, we don't notice the walls of our pit growing taller and the hope of the light above growing further away.

Can't we see what we're doing? The more we worry about who we want to be, what we desire our lives to be filled with, what we crave our lives to be lived for, the further we drift from the Way, the Truth, THE LIFE. We keep making it about us. We continue accepting these lies and delusions that allow us to live by selfishness. We are our focus. Our lives are ours alone to live as we see fit. Our choices only matter to us. Our mistakes carry no weight nor lead to any consequences. So we've simply accepted this idea that we can take hold of this time we've been given and mold it into whatever we want it to be based completely upon the ideals that we've learned to desire which have taught by the fallen society in which we live.

We're trying so hard to build something in which we can take pride. We're trying so hard to craft a life that gives us this overwhelming sense of success and personal accomplishment. We're trying so hard to carve out a life that is exactly what we want it to be, filled with every desire we can learn to crave, and aimed solely at the goals we have for ourselves. We just keep living as if we're going to be in this place, in these lives, stuck with ourselves for all eternity. So lost in the here and now that the very suggestion of eternity seems nothing more than some distant theory that would only hinder the construction of our ideal life, and so forever is simply something we'll think about later. Maybe.

The more we focus on us and what we want and building lives that bring fulfillment of all the above, the more we lose touch with the eternal reality that we've been warned about in Scripture. These lives will end. Our time on this earth is finite. One day we will take our very final breath, and after our eyes have closed to never again open on this side of eternity, they'll open on the other side. They'll look upon the culmination of every promise that the Word of God has given us. We'll sleep upon this leg of our journey and awake to the judgement that we long imagined just wasn't coming.

Friends, we can cling to these lives as hard as we want. We can build something down here that we consider perfect. We can fill our eyes with all that shines and let our hearts wander throughout this globe in search of more to desire. We can let our minds run free dreaming of every way in which we can tweak our lives to make them more of what we selfishly want them to be. But in the end, they'll still end. All that we build down here will be left behind. Every trinket on our wall, every car in our garage, every penny in our bank, every dream that we dreamed, every goal that we chased, every single idol that we served will be gone forever.

And all we'll have left is a stark meeting with the reality that our choice to cling to this place and our lives within it meant we never took hold of the promise that Christ gave us. The tighter we hold on to this world, the less strength we have to grab onto something in the next. The harder we try to keep our lives, the harder it's going to be when we realize that we just can't bring it all with us and that we missed out on getting ready to stand before God because we chose to remain distracted by all the worldly junk that seemed so important yet never really mattered.

Friends, there are two paths through life. Both have meaning. Both bring happiness. Both have benefits. But the meaning, happiness, and purpose of one are more fleeting than we could imagine. One is spent following this idea that we can build perfect lives that we can live forever. The other is spent dying to self and following Christ rather than our deceitful hearts.

What we need to understand is that Christ Himself warns us right here in Matthew 16 of the dangers in focusing solely on these lives and forsaking the idea of eternity. We can keep trying to keep these lives, but we will lose them. And that's the whole point. We're going to lose them one way or another. We can either have them taken away and watch as our idea of perfect fades away into the past when our time here is done. Or we can choose to give them away, to lay them down in order to take hold of this opportunity to follow Christ and begin laying up for ourselves treasures in Heaven.

Friends, there's nothing in this world that we could possibly build, earn, or find that can come close to the place that Christ has gone to prepare for us. But it's up to us to decide whether or not we'll accept that fact. Laying down our lives in this place is something that very few choose to do. Most will go on living as if this world is their forever home and will continue living their best lives right now. But for those few who are willing to look beyond the scope of these worldly lives and consider the hope of eternity, they'll be the only ones who actually find life.

This world is all just dust and lies. Why build something in a place that has an end coming? Why hold so tightly to something that we can't hold onto forever? Why keep avoiding the promise we've been given in exchange for a selfish hope that we can do better? Friends, we're getting closer to the end. That's not a warning nor a threat but simply a reality. Are you holding onto this world? Are you still worried about making this life everything you want it to be? Or are you looking ahead to something else?

Make no mistake, something else is coming and our choice to either embrace it or ignore it will determine where we spend eternity. Again, we're going to lose these lives one way or another. Have them ripped away and be handed the reality that you wasted them chasing things that are now ashes. Or lay them down and take hold of the promise that you have an eternal home in Heaven that can never be taken away.

Just know that while laying down these worldly lives and forsaking every desire that we’ve had or may have will not be easy nor common, doing so allows us to find Christ. And if we can make that choice to strip away every fiber of this world and seek Christ alone, we will find Him and finally be able to see that He is truly all we have ever needed because He is the only way through those gates through which we simply do not deserve to pass.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold