标杆人生 | 第四天：为永恒而造
PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE | DAY4：Made to Last Forever
God has ... planted eternity in the human heart.
--Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)
Surely God would not have created such a being as man to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.
--Abraham Lincoln
This life is not all there is.
Life on earth is just the dress rehearsal before the real production. You will spend far more time on the other side of death-in eternity-than you will here. Earth is the staging area, the preschool, the tryout for your life in eternity. It is the practice workout before the actual game; the warm-up lap before the race begins. This life is preparation for the next.
At most, you will live a hundred years on earth, but you will spend forever in eternity. Your time on earth is, as Sir Thomas Browne said, "but a small parenthesis in eternity." You were made to last forever.
The Bible says, "God has ... planted eternity in the human heart."You have an inborn instinct that longs for immortality. This is because God designed you, in his image, to live for eternity. Even though we know everyone eventually dies, death always seems unnatural and unfair. The reason we feel we should live forever is that God wired our brains with that desire!
One day your heart will stop beating. That will be the end of your body and your time on earth,but it will not be the end of you. Your earthly body is just a temporary residence for your spirit. The Bible calls your earthly body a "tent," but refers to your future body as a "house." The Bible says, "When this tent we live in-our body here on earth-is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever."
While life on earth offers many choices, eternity offers only two: heaven or hell.Your relationship to God on earth will determine your relationship to him in eternity. If you learn to love and trust God's Son, Jesus, you will be invited to spend the rest of eternity with him. On the other hand, if you reject his love, forgiveness, and salvation, you will spend eternity apart from God forever.
C. S. Lewis said, "There are two kinds of people: those who say to God `Thy will be done' and those to whom God says, `All right then, have it your way. " Tragically, many people will have to endure eternity without God because they chose to live without him here on earth.
When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here and now, and you realize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently. You will start living in light of eternity, and that will color how you handle every relationship, task, and circumstance. Suddenly many activities, goals, and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty, and unworthy of your attention. The closer you live to God, the smaller everything else appears.
This life is preparation for the next. When you live in light of eternity, your values change. You use your time and money more wisely. You place a higher premium on relationships and character instead of fame or wealth or achievements or even fun. Your priorities are reordered. Keeping up with trends, fashions, and popular values just doesn't matter as much anymore. Paul said, "I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done."
If your time on earth were all there is to your life, I would suggest you start living it up immediately. You could forget being good and ethical, and you wouldn't have to worry about any consequences of your actions. You could indulge yourself in total self-centeredness because your actions would have no long-term repercussions. But-and this makes all the difference-death is not the end of you! Death is not your termination, but your transition into eternity, so there are eternal consequences to everything you do on earth. Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
The most damaging aspect of contemporary living is short-term thinking.To make the most of your life, you must keep the vision of eternity continually in your mind and the value of it in your heart. There's far more to life than just here and now! Today is the visible tip of the iceberg. Eternity is all the rest you don't see underneath the surface.
What is it going to be like in eternity with God? Frankly, the capacity of our brains cannot handle the wonder and greatness of heaven. It would be like trying to describe the Internet to an ant. It's futile. Words have not been invented that could possibly convey the experience of eternity. The Bible says, "No mere man has ever seen, heard or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord."
However, God has given us glimpses of eternity in his Word. We know that right now God is preparing an eternal home for us. In heaven we will be reunited with loved ones who are believers, released from all pain and suffering, rewarded for our faithfulness on earth, and reassigned to do work thatDAY FOUR: we will enjoy doing. We won't lie around on clouds with halos playing harps! We will enjoy unbroken fellowship with God, and he will enjoy us for an unlimited, endless forever. One day Jesus will say, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world."
C. S. Lewis captured the concept of eternity on the last page of the Chronicles of Narnia, his seven-book children's fiction series:
"For us this is the end of all the stories... But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world... had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read, which goes on forever and in which every chapter is better than the one before."
God has a purpose for your life on earth, but it doesn't end here. His plan involves far more than the few decades you will spend on this planet. It's more than "the opportunity of a lifetime"; God offers you an opportunity beyond your lifetime. The Bible says, "[God's] plans endure forever; his purposes last eternally."
The only time most people think about eternity is at funerals, and then it's often shallow, sentimental thinking, based on ignorance. You may feel it's morbid to think about death, but actually it's unhealthy to live in denial of death and not consider what is inevitable. Only a fool would go through life unprepared for what we all know will eventually happen. You need to think more about eternity, not less.
Just as the nine months you spent in your mother's womb were not an end in themselves but preparation for life, so this life is preparation for the next. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus, you don't need to fear death. It is the door to eternity. It will be the last hour of your time on earth, but it won't be the last of you. Rather than being the end of your life, it will be your birthday into eternal life. The Bible says, "This world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven."
When you live in light of eternity, your values change. Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever. The deeds of this life are the destiny of the next. We should be "realizing that every moment we spend in these earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home in heaven with Jesus.' Years ago a popular slogan encouraged people to live each day as "the first day of the rest of your life." Actually, it would be wiser to live each day as if it were the last day of your life. Matthew Henry said, "It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our final day."
DAY FOUR
THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE
Point to Ponder: There is more to life than just here and now.
Verse to Remember: This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever. 1 John 2:17 (NLT)
Question to Consider: Since I was made to last forever, what is the one thing I should stop doing and the one thing I should start doing today?
标杆人生 | 第四天：为永恒而造
神……将永生安置在世人心里。(传道书3章：11节)
神创造的人类绝不是只为生存于世上一朝半日而已！人是为永生而被造的。 ——林肯
人生在世，其实只是彩排，为未来公演之日作准备。死后，在永恒中，你逗留的时间将比今世长久得多。人世间只是舞台、赛前的热身操、进入永生前的考验期。此生本为来生而预备。
你活在世上最多不过百年光景，但在永恒中你将度过无穷岁月。你在地上的日子，正如汤玛斯爵士说：“不外乎是永恒中的一个插曲。”你原是为永恒而造。
圣经说：“(神)将永生安置在世人心里。”你天生便是有追求永生的本性。因为神原是照着他自己的形像造人，要人活到永恒。虽然我们知道人人终有一死，死亡看来还是既不自然又不公平，原因是神在我们的脑中早已种下寻求永生的意念。
你的心脏总有停止跳动的一天，那便是你物质生命存活的终止，人生在世的句号，但却不是你的终局。你的肉体不外是你灵魂的暂居之所。圣经形容你的肉体是"帐棚"，而你的将来的身体则被喻为"房屋"。圣经说：“我们原知道，我们这地上的帐篷若拆毁了，必得神所造，不是人手所造，在天上永存的房屋。”
人生在地上或许有很多选择，但永恒却只有两个选择：天堂或地狱。你与神永恒的关系将由你与他在地上的关系决定。你若学会如何爱慕、信靠神的儿子——-耶稣，你会被邀请与他分享永生；但若拒绝他的爱、宽恕与救赎，你将永世永远与神分离。
刘易斯说：“世上有两种人，一种人对神说：“愿你的旨意成就'；另一种人，神则对他说：“好吧，随你所欲。”"可悲的是，太多人选择了今生不与主同行，以致要在永恒中与他永别。
当你明白，今生不是只有目前，而是为未来的永生作准备时，你的生活方式自然会有所改变。你会开始按照永恒的准则来生活，这将会影响你处理人情事故的态度与方式。很多以往认为十足重要的活动、目标与问题，刹那间变得不值一顾了。因为你愈接近神，万物就愈变得微不足道。
当你活在永恒之光下，你的价值观便会有所改变。你会更懂得善用金钱和时间。你会重视人际关系和品格超过财富、成就，甚至欢乐。你会重整优先次序：追上时代脉动、时装潮流或流行的新价值，都显得无关紧要了。保罗说：“我先前以为对我非常重要的，现在因着基督所行了的，再不看重了。”
如果你在这世上的生命便是你的一生，我会促请你马上好好享受生活。别管什么道德、美善，更无须忧虑后果，只管放纵私欲。但是事实并非如此，死亡不是终点站，而是你进入永恒的中转站，因此你要承担在世上所做的一切后果。今生所做所为的一切，都会在永恒中发出回响。
现世生活最可怕的就是只顾目前。若要能善用你的今生，必须时刻有永恒的意念与价值观。今生绝不只限于目前！今天只是冰山一角，永恒才是你没看见的全貌。
在永恒中与神同在会是如何呢？坦白说，以我们有限的头脑实在无法完全领略属天的奇妙与伟大。这好像你向一只蚂蚁解释什么是电子网络一样，徒劳无功！用来形容解释永恒之乐的字句，确实还未被创造出来！如圣经所说：“上帝为爱他的人所预备的，是人见所在地未见，闻所未闻，甚至是想也想不到的那么的美好。”
然而，神早已在他的话语之中让我们隐约一瞥永恒的点滴。我们知道，此刻神正在为我们准备永久的住处。在天堂我们会与已信主的挚爱亲朋相会，不再有痛苦愁烦；我们亦会领受我们在地上尽忠的奖赏，并且会获派去做我们喜欢的工作。我们不会躺在云端，头顶着光圈弹竖琴！我们将会与神共聚，永不分离。有一天，主耶稣会说：“你们这蒙我父赐福的，可来承受那创世以来为你们所预备的国。”
刘易斯写了七册儿童寓言，名叫《纳尼亚传奇》。在最后一册的末页，他捕捉到永恒的概念：“对我们来说，这便是所有故事的终结……但对他们却是真正故事的序幕。他们在今世的生活，只是封面和扉页；现在才是那伟大故事第一章的开始，虽然从没有人阅读过，但故事的发展却从未停止过，并且总是一章比一章精彩。”
神对你这一生有一个目的，但这目的却不限于此生。他的计划远超越你在这地上所度过的几十年。你所拥有的不是"一生难得一次的机会"，而是跨越今生的机会。圣经说：“耶和华的筹算永远立定，他心中的思念万代常存。”
人们通常只会在追思礼拜上才想到永恒的问题，且因对永恒无知，往往只有肤浅和感性的思考。你或许觉得整天思考死亡好像有点病态，但其实逃避死亡的事实，才真正是不健康的想法。只有傻瓜才会完全不为人人都知道终要发生的事来打算、浑浑噩噩地过他的一生。我们其实应该多思想一点永恒，而不是不加理会。
你在母腹中所度过的九个月，并非是行程的结束，而是为生命的开始作准备。同样地，此生是为将来作准备。你若藉着耶稣与神结合，便无须惧怕死亡，这正是通往永生之门。当面临死亡时将是你人生在世最后的一刻，却不是你的心头，乃是进入永生的生日。正如圣经上记载：“我们在这世上原来就没有永久的家，乃是寻求那将来在天上永恒的家。”
以永恒作准绳，我们在世不过是一瞬之间，但其结果却存至永远。今生的行为要成为来生的终局。我们应该"晓得我们住在肉体内的日子愈久，便和主耶稣在天家重聚的分离愈久。”数年前有句流行的口号鼓励人每天活得"像是生命的最后一天。”亨利马太说：“我们每天都该为自己最后的那日作准备。”
第4天 我的人生目的省思
思想要点：生命并不止于此时此地。
背记经文：这世界和其上的情欲都要过去，唯独遵行神旨意的，是永远常存。(约翰一书2：17节)
思考问题：既然我为永恒而受造，那么从今日起，有哪件事我应停止去做，哪件事我应开始去实行？