The Here and Now, Or Eternity?

Yes, I can’t sleep. I sit here, about 11:30pm on a Friday night after a pretty tough yet exhilarating 6 weeks. In the last week I have hardly slept and I’ve worked about 44 hours, plus supported and coached a heck of a lot of soccer out in the spring sun. I should be fast asleep. My body, my throat and my voice demand it. The mind, however, has a “mind” of its own. It wants to write this down. So, here I go.

 

Eternal life. It’s one of those mysteries that humans have grappled with since the dawn of time. If you believe that it exists in some form or another, or think it’s a load of beetle’s dung, you cannot deny the notion of eternity affects us all.

 

As a Christian, I believe in eternal life. I believe that while our earthly bodies will eventually die, wither and return to the dust of the earth from whence Adam came, our spirit lives on.

 

It gets a mention in the Bible - that this life is not really the life set before us, but a life of eternity is what we ought to be really on about. However, is this earth-based existence really pointless to the point where eternity is everything and this life is nothing? The reward of eternal life is enough and we can thus coast through life, safe in the knowledge that we’ll be eternal beings?

 

To discuss this, let me use an analogy of a scenario I experienced this week. As with all analogies, it does not fit the description 100% - what it is analogising (if that’s a word) can never be truly described to the finer details.

 

This week, I had the privilege of coaching my school’s Year 6/7 Boys’ soccer team in a round robin tournament. The boys were such a brilliant team in the way they fought for each other, followed my instructions and coaching guidance to the best of their abilities, and transposed my passion onto the field to further fuel their heart and passion to not only be competitive, but to win consistently.

 

[Did I just say it was all me that made us so successful? I had an influence, sure, but I’d better stress that it was the boys that caused the success. I merely guided them.]

 

I mentioned to the lads at the start of the day that our end game, our goal, and the reason we were there was to: make finals. That meant winning every game or at worst, only losing one.

 

Time for some Maths to help with this analogy.

 

Finals = Eternal Life

 

Games 1 through 5 were about setting us up for the finals. We won every game except for a tough contest against the eventual winners of our particular pool.

 

Games 1 through 5 = Conversion/When you choose God’s way over your way.

 

How are we going so far? Have I lost you? If not, stick with me.

 

Game 6 was not really in any way going to affect our playing in the finals. Yes, we had to draw or win, but in the grand scheme of things, it felt a little like something that had to take place to move forward.

 

Game 6 = the life we live on this earth from conversion to the time when God takes us home.

 

[By the way this is where I can see people picking apart my analogy. Hang with me, though. There is a point in all this nonsense.]

 

Game 6 is what I want to focus on. See, we had to make sure the team finished well. By golly, it was a tough game. The opposition gave us a hard time. There were moments where we had to knuckle down in defence and hold the fort. There were also some wildly amazing moments of attack and pure joy as the game ebbed and flowed, much in the same way life ebbs and flows. We have times where we have to knuckle down and just do the basics to survive. For example, I’ve had to focus on defence/survival for most of the last year or so, for reasons that some of you know. Life, in all its complexity, also has some wickedly amazing moments/periods/spells. I won’t go into examples because you all know what I mean!

 

My boys [ha! My boys…] had, in the back of their mind, the finals. Like Christians, the notion of eternity has to be ever present in our lives. We have to be constantly thinking about IT in some way, shape or form.

 

I’ll admit I don’t do that well. I focus too much on the game of life here on earth. I don’t really think about trying to talk to others about Jesus. Call me, for lack of a better phrase, a poor evangelist. Sometimes I wonder if subconsciously I figure because I’m a Christian the hard work is done, I’m going to heaven, and I can simply coast through this life.

 

Back to soccer! My boys had to be mindful of the end game: the finals. I had to, as a coach, make sure that two of my top players, who hadn’t had any rest, got some time on the bench to keep some freshness in their legs for that semi final fast approaching.

 

Conversely, my boys and I had to actually get that balance right of glancing forward to the finals but also focus on the current game. They could not simply lose focus and lose. Losing was not an option. Playing halfheartedly was not an option.

 

For us, this life is about not being halfhearted. I mean, shouldn’t I want as many of my mates, past, present and future, to be standing with me in heaven? Should we stand firm in our convictions and work our butts off to develop and maintain a higher standard of integrity so that God is worshipped in everything we do? We use our actions (and occasionally our words) to promote how awesome it is to be in a right relationship with God? Why aren’t we? What’s stopping us?

 

My boys, they were hurting. They were tired. They needed someone to step up, a dose of inspiration. It came! My goodness, did it come! It came in the form of a superb fast break, a few brilliant passes and a top class finish. That turned the game on its head and we cruised from that moment on to a solid victory, carrying sweet momentum into the finals.

 

In life, we need inspiration. We crave for it. When finesse and flair take place, we see the bigger picture of eternity in the context of the here and now. Like the momentum from Game 6 carried into the finals, so we see the purpose of our earthly life and how that response to the calling of THAT purpose echoes in eternity.

 

And when our God calls us home, we can enjoy the sweet, sweet release of rest, and those words: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” What would be even sweeter is if we hear that echoed for our friends and family as well, the ones influenced by the way we conducted our lives and the way we gave God the glory for anything and everything.

 

I hope my ramblings get you thinking as it got me thinking about my own perspectives on the balance between living in the present and living with eternity on our minds.

 

Have a great day! Your brother, Clarky.

 

PS Ask me about what happened in the finals with my boys. That is a 4-page tale in its own right!

 

Reviews

[Jean Lagace]

A piece about eternity. Well, this is a coincidence because I wrote one myself. I hope mine is as well drafted as this one. Failing to see much of what I should in this sanctimonious metaphor, I am left wondering what is to be done with the team that loses that competition. The poor lot that serves the elected few in finding their ways to heaven in eternity. Well, eternity is a very long time. What to do with it is a question that haunted me a bit a few years back. That is if I get to make the trip to heaven, as a spirit, a ghost or a supernatural being. I might read something else from that author. What if? lol

[Stan Lee]

Hey Stephen. Thanks for sharing this analogy with us. I am impressed and you've certainly given me food for thought. As always, great writing.
Now, what happened in the finals?