” God…….has planted eternity in the human heart.” (Eccl. 3:11- NLT)

“Surely God would not have created such a being as man to exist for only a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.” -Abraham Lincoln

This life is not all there is. Life on earth is just the dress rehearsal before the real production. YOU WILL spend far more time on the other side of death— in eternity— than you will here. Earth is the staging area, the preschool, the tryout for your life in eternity. It is the practice workout before the actual game; the warm-up lap before the race begins. THIS LIFE IS PREPARATION FOR THE NEXT!

At most, you might spend a hundred years on earth, but YOU WILL spend forever in eternity. Your time on earth is, as the book of James describes, “…For what is your life? It is even like a vapour, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.” ( James 4:14-ERV) You were made to last forever.

You have an inborn instinct that longs for immortality. That is because God designed you in His image, to live for eternity. Even though we know everyone eventually dies, death always seems unnatural and unfair. The reason we feel we should live forever is that God wired our brains with that desire!

One day your heart will stop beating. That will be the end of your body, ( your physical life ), and your time on earth, but it WILL NOT be the end of YOU. Your earthly body is just a temporary residence for your spirit. The Bible calls your earthly body a ” tent, ” but refers to your future body as a ” house. ” The Bible says, ” When this tent we live in—our body here on earth—is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever.” ( 2 Cor. 5:1 —TEV )

While life on earth offers many choices, eternity offers only two: heaven or hell. Your choice on earth about a relationship to God will determine your relationship to Him in eternity. If you choose to love and trust in God’s Son, Jesus, and His finished work, you will be invited to spend the rest of eternity with Him. On the other hand, if you reject His love, forgiveness, and salvation, ( here on this side of eternity ), you will spend eternity apart from God FOREVER!

Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.The choices of this life are the destiny of the next. Years ago a popular slogan encouraged people to live each day as ” the first day of the rest of your life. ” Actually, it would be wiser to LIVE EACH DAY AS IF IT WERE THE LAST DAY OF YOU LIFE. Matthew Henry said, ” It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our final day. “

Remember: There is more to life than just here and now. Start living life with eternity in mind. Make decisions with this in mind. ” This world is fading away, along with everything it craves. But if you do the will of God, you will live forever. ” ( 1 Jo. 2:17—NLT )