Tag: eternal consequence

The Tree of Life

This bubble of time in the sea of eternity is not our ultimate destination. This life is the illusion, and what follows, when we are freed from the bounds of time and space, is the reality.

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Shagbark Hickory

The tree of life was there in the garden. It was available to us until God “cast us out of the garden” and closed us off from it, so the story goes. Why?

I think there is intention to the fact that He let us know that the tree of life was there and we could eat of it. Conceivably, we could have chosen to eat of the fruit of the tree of life, instead of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

(Notice that it was not a “tree of knowledge” but a tree of the knowledge of the difference between good and evil.)

I began thinking about these things one day as I was contemplating the slow unwinding of my own body. Continue reading “The Tree of Life” →

The Sun Shines Now on Saints and Sinners

Our lives in this world will end. Then, we will have nothing between us and eternity.

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(c) Can Stock Photo

(c) Can Stock Photo

This is the fifth in of a series of posts on Putting the Wrath of God in Perspective. I have previously written on the subject of the wrath of God several times. In my last blog, I considered how God is perceived through the filter of human experience: if a person sets his self against God, he experiences what feels like condemnation, anger and rejection; while the person who attempts to draw near to God experiences love, grace and acceptance.

God does not change in this exercise. We do. Where we stand in relation to God determines how we experience Him. If God is the source and giver of life, and if God is love, we should experience life and love when we draw near to Him; conversely, we experience the opposite of life and love when we reject God or withdraw from Him. We experience love or “wrath” depending on where we stand in relation to God.

Taking this a step further, if we love what God loves, we find fellowship with Him, but if we love what God does not love, we find that we are separated from Him by our love of things God does not love.

We don’t naturally love what God loves, so we naturally feel some tension with God. In order to know and understand God, we need to get beyond this tension. There is no tension on God’s part, however; the tension is with us and our posture toward God.

Continue reading “The Sun Shines Now on Saints and Sinners” →

The Eternal Consequence of Now

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Sun by Me~

Every action, every decision we make in our lives has eternal consequence.

Do you believe that is true? Do you live like that is true? Think about it for a moment:

“For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14)

God will bring every act to judgment.

Even the hidden things, the things that no one but I (you) know about is exposed to God. We cannot go anywhere that God is not present. (Psalm 139)

God knows our thoughts too. (Psalm 139:2) Jesus made it clear that anyone who is angry with his brother is guilty of murder (Matthew 5:21-22); and anyone who lusts after a woman is guilty of adultery (Matthew 5:27-28). Our thoughts are subject to the scrutiny of God as well as our actions.

If we would follow the example of Paul, we need to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Every action, every thought, has an eternal consequence. It should be no surprise, therefore, that inaction also has eternal consequence. Indeed, “to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)

Believers who live by faith are not living under condemnation. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.” (Romans 8:1) But that is no license to go on sinning. (Romans 6:1) As Paul said, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:2)

We have been set free from sin, but where is the fruit? It is the fruit of this freedom that leads to sanctification and results in eternal life (Romans 6:22); if indeed we are attached to the vine that bears this fruit, we will bear fruit. Jesus sacrificed Himself and rose from the dead precisely so that we may bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)

God is looking for fruit from us.

Consider the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 God does not give the same measure of talents to all of us, but he is looking for us to use what He gave us and not bury it in the ground. What we do with this time God has allotted us has eternal consequences.

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” (Ephesians 5:15-17)

“[W]alk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10)