Eternal Perspective
A long time ago when my kids were little, we gathered with dear family to share a nice meal together. Someone had made a delicious green salad, which happened to have red grapes in it. We had already prayed. The kids were sitting at the table with prepared plates in front of them. The adults were piling their plates high with all the fine fare, including the aforementioned green salad with red grapes, when all of a sudden, my four-year-old nephew cried out loud and clear over all the happy chatter in the room: “Hey!! Who put salad in my grapes!”
Laughter ensued. We all chuckled at the sweetness of his misplaced perspective. But then I thought, well yeah, who can blame him? I mean, a salad with grapes in it is quite lovely. A bunch of grapes with some lettuce thrown in? Not so much. Our perspective changes everything.
Of course, we know there’s more at stake from our perspective than whether or not we have salad in our grapes or grapes in our salad. Our perspective on the temporary things of this world and the eternal life ahead of us has a direct impact on how we live our lives today; right here and now.
A young man in Mark 10 shows us the tragedy of a misplaced perspective. This man was extremely rich (Luke 18:23), he lived a morally good life, and evidently, he wanted one more thing for his life to be complete: to inherit eternal life (Mark 10:17).
He came to the right place. He came to Jesus, the source of this eternal life, but he didn’t really catch who he was talking to.
“Good teacher,” he called Jesus.
Good? Jesus is, in fact, good, but He’s also more than that. He’s the Creator of all things, Giver of life without end, full of all the goodness of God Himself, and He Himself is treasure beyond anything we could ask for or imagine.
But this rich young man didn’t get that. What this man saw was a good teacher who might be able to give him good things, including the right box to check to inherit eternal life.
Jesus told him, “…Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21b)
This was the offer: Trade the good life you know, for a life with Jesus.
If this young man had understood all that Jesus was; all that Jesus offered, he would have jumped for joy. That’s it?? All I have to do to inherit eternal life is to follow Jesus?? I’m in! But tragically, this young man’s perspective was off. All he could think of was the stuff he would lose in this trade, and he “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:22) The rich, young ruler did not have the right perspective.
So how would the right perspective have changed things? We see an example of it displayed in another rich man, Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was also very wealthy. But he wasn’t living a good life like the rich young ruler was (Mark 10: 20). No, Zacchaeus was a swindling, chief tax collector. When he met Jesus, something changed (Luke 19:1-10). Instead of going away from Jesus sad as the first rich man did, Zacchaeus stayed with Jesus joyfully. His life was forever changed. Zacchaeus understood that his present riches were nothing compared to the immeasurable wealth of eternity with Jesus Christ. He left his life of greed and defrauding and found life in Christ, full of generosity and honesty. His perspective changed everything.
This is why Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:13 that the way to live holy and good lives in this present moment is to: “…set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of our Lord Jesus.”
When our hope is in Christ and all that is waiting for us when He returns, we will live each day with the right perspective. And it’s not just riches the Lord wants us to trade...it’s our whole lives. Our sins, our sorrows, our joys; absolutely everything we give to Jesus is changed into something infinitely better, and we’ll see the fulness of all that is true in Christ one day in our heavenly home with Him.
So, what is your perspective?
I challenge you, whatever it currently is, fix your hope fully on Christ, and live your life with the right perspective: Jesus, the living God, victorious Warrior, conquering King, loving Savior, is coming back for you one day, and all that He is far better than anything we could ever know apart from Him. “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Written by: Natasha Rowden
Natasha and her husband, Derek, have been at The Mount since 2013. They have 3 fabulous teenage boys, Cole, Max, and Seth. Derek and Natasha lead a community group on Sunday mornings, and Natasha loves making God known through the teaching of His word by writing and leading Bible studies for women.