Our earthly lives and things of this earth will pass away. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Luke 21:33) With this truth in mind, we have to wonder why we spend so much time and energy on the temporal and so little on the eternal. 

“Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, the earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished.” (Is 51:6)

Two of the great realities in our midst are surely the promised presence of God and the testimony of His eternal Word! By the “Word of God” I do not refer only to the book you hold in your hand–paper and letters, pages and ink–sewed together with silk thread. By the Word of God, I do mean the expression of the mind of God: the mighty, world-filling breath of God!

Most of the things men and women talk about cannot be counted among the great realities of life. In October, people talk a great deal about the World Series as a great reality, but by December they have forgotten who pitched and who struck out. 

People spend their entire lives in the pursuit of those things that can only perish and fade away. But when it is all over, they are still going to be faced with the reality of the eternal Word of God, the revelation of Truth which God has given us! “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My Words, has that which judges him—the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.” (John 12:48)

Think of the changes that would come if we would suddenly stop and hear the Word of God, and let it penetrate our heart and mind, and treasure His presence in our lives more than gold and diamonds. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6:19-21)

Lord, I pray that I will not spend my life in the pursuit of things that won’t last. Give me Your eternal perspective, Lord. “See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Ps 139:24). In the precious name of Jesus, amen.

Source: Mornings with Tozer