Stepping Stones: For What Is Seen Is Temporary…

March 7, 2012

Transformational Thought

Like most people, I love this time of year. Daylight Savings time starts this weekend! Springtime is finally right around the corner. Awesome … longer days … warmer weather … more sun … outdoor activities … more energy … more color … people in better moods … life abounding everywhere. All this is even grander when contrasted to the elements of winter. I am continually amazed at (but don’t necessarily like) the cycle and uniqueness of the seasons God designed. Actually, except for Christmas and football, I hate winter.

Human life has a natural cycle that has existed since the time of Adam and Eve. It is wise to recognize the seasons of life … including aging and death … and to gracefully accept their effects on us. During our lives, circumstances are always changing. When these changes are beyond our control, we must graciously accept what comes our way. Whether the season is pleasant or painful, it is good to remember that only one season is permanent … the one that comes after we die and leave this temporary earthly residence.

You see, our natural lenses get caught up in where we are now. We believe that this present season here on Earth is for all-the-marbles, and that nothing else really exists after we physically die. What a sad vantage point, but one that many believe. Satan has us fixated in getting our material needs met now, because that is all we think we are.

When our radar is dulled to the spiritual and tuned to the material, we gauge our progress and needs based on the wrong radar. For example, seeing our physical peak at ages 25-35, we view ourselves as declining thereafter. We can get more bummed out, or we can invest lots of time, energy, and money into milking the clock and extending our physical life. But really, our essence is psychological and especially spiritual, not physical.

The true person we are, the inner person, can grow stronger even while our physical person is wasting away. God is completing the work He started in us, and that completed, ultimate state is for eternity. The goal of all the seasons we experience is growing our spiritual radar so we can sense God and connect to Him in joyous and powerful ways.

Today, identify whether you are in a good season or a rough one. Enjoy the good one! But if you are in a rough one, ask yourself how God is growing you on the inside. Then let this season draw you closer to Him. Remember, the time we and our loved ones spend in physical, emotional, psychological, and relational discomfort in these bodies is nothing compared to the eternity we will spend in perfect wholeness in God's presence. Also, understand that discomfort is one of the necessary seasons we need to pass through to get to the final, completed, season of perfect relationship with God in eternity. Thank You, God! Life is your decision, so choose well.

Prayer
Dear Father God, guide me through the seasons of life and help me trust You through each one. Help all those especially those suffering physically … and me … to have an eternal perspective. Help me submit to Your perfect knowledge as You bring my present season and all the difficult seasons into my life. Help me maximize my growth in those seasons to glorify You. I pray this and all prayers in the name of the One you sent to teach me about eternity, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say - AMEN!

The Truth
There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

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.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Philippians 1:6