“As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all." Psalm 103:13-19
"And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write this: Blessed
are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Blessed
indeed,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors,
for their deeds follow them!'" Revelation 14:13
"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
so that each one may receive what is due for what he has
done in the body, whether good or evil." 2 Corinthians 5:10
"They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be
generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for
themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they
may take hold of that which is truly life." 1 Timothy 6:18-19
Various approaches to “seeing” the nature of life:
1. Anger.
“Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light."
Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)
2. The way of the disillusioned, “sensible man.”
In this approach, the individual comes to believe
that any hope of an eternal reality or eternal life is
nonsensical. You give up the quest for having a life
that is impactful and settle into a dull routine of a
plotting 24-hour, daily existence.
3. Non-gospel nobility.
“I’d rather think what the majority of survivors of
concentration camps have been experiencing may be
called ‘survivor responsibility.’ What they feel is a deep
sense of being responsible regarding the question of how
to make the best of each single opportunity that life may
offer them” Viktor Frankl, Facing the Transitoriness of
Human Existence
4. Living as called out stewards of the manifold grace of
God.
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of
darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a
people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not
received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
1 Peter 2:9-10
“But supposing infinite happiness really is there, waiting
for us? Supposing one really can reach the rainbow's
end? In that case it would be a pity to find out too late
(a moment after death) that by our supposed 'common
sense' we had stifled in ourselves the faculty of enjoying
it.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 136
“I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or
to be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the
other, never to mistake them for the something else of
which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I
must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country,
which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get
snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main
object of life to press on to that country and to help others
to do the same.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 137