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What We Are Here For

Last week, as part of an art project, a Saskatoon man took people’s pictures with a Polaroid camera and then had them write a “life goal” on their photo. The results were interesting. Some stated that they wanted to travel the world. Several people wanted to write a book. One gentleman wanted to “Run with the bulls” (maybe they should have had a “before” and an “after” picture of him). Maybe the nicest picture was of an older couple, sitting with their arms around each other. Regarding their life goal, one of them had simply written on their photo, “Already accomplished”.

So that got me thinking: What would I write? How about you? What would you write on your photo?

With your answer in mind, think about this: “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

Does that change your answer in any way? If you are like me, it probably did.

You see, my first reaction to any “life goal” sort of question is to think about “here” and “now”. I may have written something like, “I want to ride a motorcycle across Canada”, but Philippians 3:20 changes my thinking just a little bit.

If it is true that my “citizenship is in heaven”, then it probably makes sense that I focus on the Spiritual part of my life more than I do at times.

Is “eagerly awaiting” a good way to describe my attitude toward eternity and heaven, or are they things that I just sort of think about once in while (mostly on Sunday)?

Do I really understand what it means for Jesus to be my “Saviour”? I must have been saved “from” something and “for” something (See Ephesians 2 for more on this).

My point: there is nothing wrong with enjoying life, it is just that I need a bigger perspective than just “What would I like right now?”

If I have an eternal soul that will live on beyond the grave, maybe part of my “Life goal” should be to look after, not only this life, but the one to come as well.

After all, in the end, it will not just be Jesus’ grave that is found empty. Ours will be as well (1 Corinthians 15).

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