Here's the scenario: You've gone to a great deal of trouble arranging for a splendid vacation for several family members and friends. You've picked a location that offers the best of all worlds -- spectacular natural scenery; access to the best nightspots, museums, bookstores, galleries and eateries; scheduled saunas, massages and pedicures; and romantic settings to warm even the coldest heart.
Your guests arrive with you at the appropriate time. While they partake of all the goodies this vacation has to offer, their mood is anything but joyous. Whenever you try to gauge their liking of the various amenities before them, all they want to talk about is where they plan to go AFTER this glorious vacation comes to its end. You've spared no expense to provide your loved ones with the ultimate experience, yet their supreme focus is NOT on the here and now, but some distant tomorrow.
Honestly, wouldn't this kind of attitude tick you off, even a tad?
For many Christians -- as well as adherents of the other two Abrahamic religions -- this is how this life on earth is viewed. It's as if this form of existence merely is a way station on the road to a supposed paradise. Such individuals seem unable to grasp that this life is to be lived to its fullest and that, as far as anyone REALLY knows, this may be it. While many believe in the concept of an afterlife, no one KNOWS if it actually exists.
So, if you believe in some sort of divine entity and this being created this world for YOU to live in, shouldn't you take advantage of the bounty provided at your disposal? Don't you think he or she would be a little miffed if you waste this tangible gift, while waiting for a better gift -- one that may or may not exist -- to come down the pike?
Just asking.
Your guests arrive with you at the appropriate time. While they partake of all the goodies this vacation has to offer, their mood is anything but joyous. Whenever you try to gauge their liking of the various amenities before them, all they want to talk about is where they plan to go AFTER this glorious vacation comes to its end. You've spared no expense to provide your loved ones with the ultimate experience, yet their supreme focus is NOT on the here and now, but some distant tomorrow.
Honestly, wouldn't this kind of attitude tick you off, even a tad?
For many Christians -- as well as adherents of the other two Abrahamic religions -- this is how this life on earth is viewed. It's as if this form of existence merely is a way station on the road to a supposed paradise. Such individuals seem unable to grasp that this life is to be lived to its fullest and that, as far as anyone REALLY knows, this may be it. While many believe in the concept of an afterlife, no one KNOWS if it actually exists.
So, if you believe in some sort of divine entity and this being created this world for YOU to live in, shouldn't you take advantage of the bounty provided at your disposal? Don't you think he or she would be a little miffed if you waste this tangible gift, while waiting for a better gift -- one that may or may not exist -- to come down the pike?
Just asking.
I've got a friend who, if Christianity turns out to be correct, will probably get the seat next to Jesus.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I've not been quite so good... probably not good at all, so I guess I'll be down the back somewhere.
Now, if you're talking about eternity and the bad people start off in purgatory and after a bit of punishment get to slowly move up, doesn't that mean we get a change of scenery?
Somehow I feel like I'd rather be mucking up down the back of the room instead of having to sit quietly by the teacher for eternity.
Great post BTW. Good message - live life to the fullest TODAY.
Carpe diem!
I always thought that when Jesus said the Kingdom of God is at hand, he meant here and now.
ReplyDeleteI was once on a tour, down the Li River in Guilin, China, and as the boat drifted through this incredible landscape, there was some woman who yammered on and on about the places she had just come FROM. I suspect she did that on the next leg of her journey, (yammering about Guilin on the beach at Waikiki, maybe)..rather than just enjoying the here and now.