(Photo by antibodyphoto - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)
If you look into Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, you will see his assertion (which makes sense) that people have needs, and as you move up his pyramid of needs, the 'needs' start moving toward 'wants'. The most basic needs are physiological - food, shelter, clothing, heat, etc. Makes sense, right? If I can't feed myself I'm likely to die, and therefore thinking a deeper issues of self-esteem and self-actualization don't really matter until my more basic needs are met.
Let's translate this to the place where I live - in the United States of America, in the seacoast of New Hampshire. In my current location, the most basic needs are just assumed. The vast majority of people in my area don't spent a lot of time thinking about if they will have food, clothing, and shelter tonight (yes some do - but proportionally very few). How does this connect to dealing with trials? Well unfortunately, having our core needs met often makes eternity and Heaven fade from our minds. And yet if we are able to gain an eternal perspective, all of our trials will change.
Consider the words of the Apostle Paul when he says, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:17). This coming from the man who was beaten, stoned, left for dead, shipwrecked and more. But his perspective is this - today's trials and tomorrow's trials are a blip on the radar compared to what Heaven has for me. It doesn't make the pain go away, but it does frame all of the trials through which we suffer.
I have a book in my office library called Whatever Happened To Heaven? The title says it all - we, as American Christians, by-and-large have lost a solid and continual grasp on eternity. We tend to want our daily trials to go away, but we often fail to think beyond the 'oh good - that trial is over' to the fact that 'trials just remind me that I have an inheritance in eternity with Christ waiting for me'
(1 Peter 1:4).
If I have faith in Christ and am redeemed by Him, all trials are momentary. Even if I were to suffer all my life, it is still momentary compared to eternity. Theologian R.C. Sproul once stated it this way - If I receive forgiveness of my sins and eternal life in Christ, and then for the rest of my earthly life I suffer terribly, I still make out like a bandit.
Trials become a totally different experience when they are re-framed in light of eternity.
- tC
Let's translate this to the place where I live - in the United States of America, in the seacoast of New Hampshire. In my current location, the most basic needs are just assumed. The vast majority of people in my area don't spent a lot of time thinking about if they will have food, clothing, and shelter tonight (yes some do - but proportionally very few). How does this connect to dealing with trials? Well unfortunately, having our core needs met often makes eternity and Heaven fade from our minds. And yet if we are able to gain an eternal perspective, all of our trials will change.
Consider the words of the Apostle Paul when he says, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:17). This coming from the man who was beaten, stoned, left for dead, shipwrecked and more. But his perspective is this - today's trials and tomorrow's trials are a blip on the radar compared to what Heaven has for me. It doesn't make the pain go away, but it does frame all of the trials through which we suffer.
I have a book in my office library called Whatever Happened To Heaven? The title says it all - we, as American Christians, by-and-large have lost a solid and continual grasp on eternity. We tend to want our daily trials to go away, but we often fail to think beyond the 'oh good - that trial is over' to the fact that 'trials just remind me that I have an inheritance in eternity with Christ waiting for me'
(1 Peter 1:4).
If I have faith in Christ and am redeemed by Him, all trials are momentary. Even if I were to suffer all my life, it is still momentary compared to eternity. Theologian R.C. Sproul once stated it this way - If I receive forgiveness of my sins and eternal life in Christ, and then for the rest of my earthly life I suffer terribly, I still make out like a bandit.
Trials become a totally different experience when they are re-framed in light of eternity.
- tC
No comments:
Post a Comment