Zowada Blog

10-18-11

The Eternal Sunrise.

You will die.

In order for one to live in sight of eternity, one must also live in sight of their own imminent, earthly demise. To set one’s sight upon the eternal one must also fully embrace the frailty and briefness of this existence. To say I must live for eternity we must also say tomorrow I may die.

Ultimately the rational motive for setting our sights upon eternity is because only under the shadow of eternity do our decisions carry any consequence. It is not the eternal mindset which causes us to lose sight of our current lives, indeed it is quite the opposite, for how much more valuable are the choices we make today if these same decisions are not limited to this lifetime. Indeed how much more frightening is the prospect that our decisions are not simply limited to this lifetime.

The wisest man to every walk the earth, Solomon, ultimately came to the same conclusion in his grim yet true conclusion upon the meaning of existence in his book, Ecclesiastes. After ranting for twelve chapters upon the fleetingness and nugatory state of this life he sums up his entire book with these final thoughts. “The end of the matter, all had been heard, fear God and keep his commandment for this is the whole duty of man.” Why does the same man who openly discredited the meaningfulness in life then wrap up the thought with ‘fear God and keep his commandments?’ The author’s reasoning is found in the next verse, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” In other words there are repercussions beyond what we currently see. Our actions, our choices only carry weight, only carry sound in as much as they echo throughout the halls of eternity.

“We must look to the dimension of eternity. Think of two or three things and then their utter meaninglessness outside the dimension of eternity. What happens to love?” Ravi Zacharias

You will live.

In many ways and most certainly unconsciously we live as if we are currently eternal beings. The uncomfortable yet indispensable truth we must live by is that tomorrow we could be walking across the street to a coffee shop and be hit by a bus. I do not say this to be morbid or unnecessarily dark, instead I say this because it is the truth. The solution is not to ignore our quickly approaching death, but instead look beyond our current position and find the purposeful and the meaningful which holds beyond this lifetime, then cling to it desperately.

Deep in our soul we rightly question whether or not the decisions we make today carry enduring ramification past this age. In light of the horrors around him, Job questioned God, “If a man die, will he rise again?” The darkness we witness around us seems oddly out of place. There must be something more than just gray. Deep in our soul we long for something more beautiful than the world we see. “The night is nearly over, behold the day is at hand (Rom. 13:12)” And so I choose to live for the day close at hand. I wait eagerly for that eternal sunrise.