This life is not all there is.
Life on earth is just the dress rehearsal before the real production.You will spend far more time on the other side of death - in eternity - than you will here.Earth is the staging area, the preschool, the tryout for your life in eternity.It is the practice workout before actual game; the warm-up lap before the race begins.This life is preperation for the next.
At most, you will live a hundred years on earth, but you will spend forever in eternity.One day your heart will stop beating.That will be the end of your body and your time on earth, but it will not be the end of you.Your eartly body is just a temporary residence for your spirit.
When you fully comprehend that there is more to life than just here and now, and you realize that life is just preparation for eternity, you will begin to live differently on a daily basis.Suddenly many activities, goals, and even problems that seemed so important will appear trivial, petty and unworthy of your attention.
Death is not the end of you! Death is not your termination, but your transition into eternity, so there are eternal consequences to everything you do on earth.Every act of our lives strikes some chord that will vibrate in eternity.
The only time most people think about eternity is at funerals, and then it's often shallow, sentimental thinking, based on ignorance.You may feel it's morbid to think about death, but actually it's unhealthy to live in denial of death and not consider what is inevitable. Only a fool would go through life unprepared for what we all know will eventually happen.
Just as the nine months you spent in your mother's womb were not an end in themselves but preperation for life, so this life is preperation for the next.It will be the last hour of your time on earth,but it won't be the last of you. Rather than being the end of your life, it will be your birthday into eternal life.
Measured against eternity, your time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.The deeds of this life are the destiny of the next.
A popular slogan encouraged people to live each day as "the first day of the rest of your life." Actually, it would be wiser to live each day as if it were the last day of your life.It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our final day.
Rick Warren
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