After a strategic hiatus*...

25 days since I have last graced your presence. I have thought about writing-- started writing, in fact-- several times, but it just wasn't right. Either I had too many thoughts in my head that just came out as unsubstantial fragments or I was writing frivolous crap that I didn't even want to read. You know when you don't want to read something you wrote it's pretty bad.

Do you often think about eternity? I have a largely temporal mindset. What I would like to eat for lunch and dinner takes up a remarkable amount of mental energy in my day. (Seriously-- choosing between the Ruffles with ranch dip and the more health-conscious spinach salad with organic raspberry vinaigrette dressing is generally at least a fifteen minute process in front of the fridge.) Contemplations of how far I will really go to ban toxicity from my physical body swirl around in my head. Where I am going to live, what I would like to do in my life, how I want to grow a garden, music I would like to buy, how much sleep I am going to get, trips I want to take-- these are the typical me-centered thoughts that drive my day.

Everything that I believe is true spiritually is intertwined into these thoughts. What I choose to eat. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

How far I will go to ban toxicity from my body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Where I am going to live, what I will do with my life... A man's steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way? In a heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

How I want to grow a garden, things I want to buy, concerns about me, me, me... For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames... tempered with: I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-- this is the gift of God.

I know that I am inspired and reminded to live in the mindset that life is so much bigger than me when I look at these words. You know?

What I want right now? That dress? That vacation? That salary? Is that really going to matter when death is over and eternal life has begun, and the purpose of my eternal existence is to praise and reflect God's gloriousness? I think I would rather start the eternal process now. So that when I am standing before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ and the worth of my life is revealed by fire, there will be something substantial remaining. Because my possessions and my salary and my honeymoon in Italy are all going to vanish.

If I actually try to consider eternity, it boggles my mind. Truly, man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow.

So in contemplating the gravity of this mindset and how if I truly adopt it, my life will be in many ways reversed, I have realized the following:

All that I have-- own, buy, rent, eat, wear-- is a gift of God given to me for stewardship. What's stewardship? It's a fancy word that means "the actions of a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others." So it's not mine-- it's just something God has given me to administer as His agent.

What does being God's "agent" mean? It means sharing this with the people in your life:

Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others. What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. We were sent to speak for Christ, and God is begging you to listen to our message. We speak for Christ and sincerely ask you to make peace with God. Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God.

So how can I use what God has given me to spread the word? How can I make my choices based on this truth? I think it's revolutionary.

What do you think?
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* Blog title attributed to Billy K.