Eyes on eternity
Three years ago, I stood on the streets of Guatemala and came face to face with the reality of hardship faced by so many. J.M. (vice president of Extra Second, Inc.) and I spent much of our time in a home for children with special needs to interview the American family that followed God’s leading to move there and create a haven for those their society considers cursed or castaways (check out “Hope for the Broken”, available on our online store). I held some of those sweet little ones who taught me lessons about how God cares for us – not because of what we can do, but because of His great love. I visited a village where I met lovely people who still had smiles on their faces though they suffered adversity and dwelt among the poorest of the poor. I learned that God’s presence is alive and well in even the most remote, mountainous regions.
A little over a month later, I was walking the streets of a small country in Eurasia, a region no stranger to unrest, and is once again living the nightmare of evil agendas and the brutality of war. I was there to interview individuals from throughout Eurasia who had experienced freedom amid terror and persecution (check out “Light Beyond the Curtain” in the online store). This was not a freedom that you could see from their physical circumstances. Because of their faith in Jesus Christ, many have lost jobs and families and have experienced imprisonment and isolation. Instead, their freedom was in a realm invisible to those of their persecutors, a freedom more real and more meaningful. It was spiritual, and most importantly, eternal.
Before these experiences, my comfortable American existence had mostly shielded me from the daily, desperate cries of hunger and of violence that ring out across the world. Once you hear them, however, your ear is forever “tuned in”. You return to your comfort a little more uncomfortable. And that’s a good thing, because we’re not supposed to be so comfortable in this life that is soon passing away, anyhow. Discomfort and empathy pushes us into the eternal realm. It makes us a little more homesick for Heaven, and we waste less time trying to amass power and security and wealth for the tomorrows that may never even come.
Are your ears open to hearing the suffering around the world? What about the suffering that is surely even happening around your neighborhood, and maybe even in your own home? Perhaps you, yourself, are experiencing a trial right now. If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, ask Him to give you a glimpse, through His presence, of the eternal realm where one day pain will end and all tears will be wiped away. As the wonderful hymn goes, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.” If you are looking ANYWHERE else, you will NEVER find peace and victory in the storms that we all deal with in this world where sin and evil persist.
If you have never repented of the sin that separates you from God (we all are born with it and into it!), I urge you to believe in Jesus Christ and confess that He is Lord. He died in your place so that you can be made right with God and live with Him forever. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32). No longer will the threats and misery of famine, alienation and war occupy your heart and mind. Instead, your heart will be looking to things above, your permanent, eternal home not made by human hands (2 Corinthians 5:1), and where no evil can go.