Listen to Audio Devotion
Matthew 24:30-21
And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect together from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other end of it.
I recently learnt about a study done on the spending behaviour of low-income people of rural India. In summary, the major reason for their spending behaviour was because of the future. How they process their current situation in light of their future played a major role in the way they spent the money they have at hand. Their expenditure was a bit more immediate in nature. Future planning, reserving for the future, sacrificing the impulses for the present things, investing for long–term benefits, goal settings and such weren’t found among these people. So basically their attitude was, “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I have today and so I’m going to live it large.”
As Christians we can learn a major lesson from this study. Our orientation of the future has a significant impact on our present decisions and our growth as Christians. Everyone in the world has a view on the future and the end times. Even atheists believe that we’re just a bunch of “flesh and blood”, and that we’ll cease to exist, decay or get burnt somewhere once we breathe our last. As Christians we looked at where we will be. The end is near. The end meaning your death, or the coming of Christ. People can look at pandemics, genocides, wars, major political events and try to predict the coming of Christ. But we’re certain that he’ll be coming at an hour when we’re expecting him the least. R.C. Sproul speaks of Christian living like this, “Right now counts forever”. How will you be making your decisions? Not just the major ones, but every single decision. Remember this, “Right now counts forever”. The decision that you make today and every single day has eternal significance.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we know that this life on earth is like a grain of sand in comparison to the future that is to come. Help us to realise this and take every decision in light of the future; every decision knowing that right now counts forever. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
