What’s the Big Deal?

 

John 3:16-18 (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

               One of the criticisms of Christianity is that we are so focused on heaven that we are no earthly good. So, what is the big deal about heaven? Why is that such an important concept for believers in Christ?

               If we see heaven as an escape from this world, then the criticism we get is valid. A person who is only concerned about going to heaven when they die tends to live with blinders on. They focus on the distant future with little regard for present realities. But that is not the essence of our faith in eternity. In fact, those who are most convinced about eternity are the most invested in the present.

               We live in a secular world that has convinced millions of people that we are just evolutionary accidents. There is no ultimate meaning in life. Any meaning that we have we create for ourselves. Yet this flies in the face of how people actually live. Most people live as if there is some undefined ultimate standard to which all people are subject. True relativism crumbles when a person must make decisions regarding what is right and wrong in life. As soon as a person says that some things are right and others are wrong, they are appealing to some universal standard of morality. They may not be able to articulate where that standard comes from, but they believe in it.

               Tim Keller, in his book The Reason for God, gives the illustration of a woman who strongly contends that all morality is culturally based and shaped by the dominant culture. Yet she also believes that women’s rights are universal and must be upheld in every culture. When asked what she bases her conviction upon, she responds that everyone knows that abusing women and children in wrong. She is appealing to some universal standard of morality.

               So, what does that have to do with a belief in eternity? It makes all the difference in the world. If a person believes that their life will be judged by an ultimate standard in eternity, it shapes how they live their present life. The Christian belief is eternity is not just some pie-in-the-sky hope of eternal bliss. It is a realistic understanding that how we live our lives here on earth matters. It upholds the idea that all human actions will one day be judged, whether good or bad. It acknowledges that if judged on the scales of eternity, we will all fall short, but that through faith in Jesus the scales will be tipped to our advantage. In response to this, a true believer strives to align his or her life with God’s ultimate standards. Not as a way to earn salvation, but as a response to what Jesus has already done for them.

               When a person lives their life without any hope of eternity, it also changes everything. If the seventy or eighty years on earth that a person gets is all that there is, why wouldn’t that person leverage everything for their advantage. Selfishness is the natural and normal consequence of a denial of eternity. Even seemingly selfless actions are calculated to bring some advantage to the person. It may enhance their self-esteem or raise their profile with others. But taken to its logical conclusion, it really doesn’t make a difference. If when we die physically, we disappear, then it really doesn’t matter how I live my life in the present.

               Evolutionary philosophy teaches us that we are all just accidents of the evolutionary process. In every aspect of this process, survival of the fittest is the name of the game. Yet, when we look at human beings, we balk at the idea of survival of the fittest. We contend that the poor, the vulnerable, the disadvantaged need to be cared for, but why? On what basis are we claiming that this should be true?

               On the other hand, Christianity teaches us that how we treat one another matters. All human beings are created in the image of God and are of value. Everyone deserves respect and care, regardless of their social, ethnic, or physical status. Because we believe that this life is the prelude to eternity, we take this life more seriously. A person who believes in a God of justice will work for justice in the here and now. A person who believes in a God of creation will take managing this creation more seriously. A person who believes in a God who cares about every individual will make ever effort to care for those around them.

               We Christians have not always had a great track record in some of these areas. That is not the fault of our belief in eternity. It is that we have not taken our belief in eternity seriously enough. Because we believe that God exists and will judge every person according to their life, we need to take how we live this life seriously. What we do today matters for all of eternity.

               Historically, those who have the strongest belief in eternity have made the greatest contributions to the present. Those who believe in eternity have been willing to make enormous personal sacrifices for others. Those who believe in eternity have put enormous effort into raising the status of the abused, marginalized, and abandoned.

               So, what’s the big deal about eternity? Without a belief in eternity all of life ultimately becomes meaningless. With a belief in eternity all of life becomes sacred and of great consequence.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.