Day 327
Ezekiel 45:13-46:24; 1 Peter 1:13-2:10; Psalm 119:33-48; Proverbs 28:11
The Test of Eternity
There was a time when my father worked as a mason’s apprentice. He would come home every evening dirty, exhausted, and yet content. As a teenager, I once spent a day with him doing the back-breaking work as a “gopher,” and I came home dirty and exhausted, but I certainly didn’t feel content! So I asked him how was it that he could come home day after day in this line of work with such a sense of satisfaction.
He told me that at the end of every day, as he was leaving the construction site, he could survey what he had accomplished. And he knew that he could come back to this same spot in twenty years, forty years, or more and find that his work still stood.
In St. Peter’s first letter, we find that God wants us to have a similar satisfaction through living a life devoted to holiness. Striving in holiness is hard work, and at times it can seem like we are carrying a ton of bricks. But God doesn’t desire that we pursue holiness because He is a cosmic killjoy. God wants us to pursue a life’s work that will stand the test of eternity. Together, as individual Christians in the Body of Christ, we are being built into a beautiful spiritual house for the sake of the world. The good news is that God does not leave us alone in the difficult work of building a holy life. God is present with us through the Holy Spirit, giving us His strength and helping us in our weaknesses.
Question: What one thing can I do differently today that will stand the test of eternity?
The Rev. Gary Jackson
Bartow, FL