Pastor Rick Warren: How to Live in Light of Eternity

By Rick Warren

“For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us!” (2 Peter 1:3 TLB).

The vast majority of people pay no attention to eternity. They’re living for the here and now, which is a waste, because everything that’s “here and now” isn’t going to matter in five minutes, much less 50 years—and certainly not for eternity. If we stretched a rope from California to Tokyo, and that represented all of eternity, your life on Earth would be represented by less than one millimeter.

So how do you live in light of eternity? You live for God’s glory, because he’s going to share his glory with you in heaven.
The Bible says in 2 Peter 1:3, “For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us!” (TLB).
You don’t get to choose what’s going to happen to you the rest of your life. But you do get to choose how you respond. You can face the future as a cynic, as a critic, as a pessimist, or as a doubter. You can face the future expecting the worst and experiencing the worst. You can face your future being ungracious to other people, and you can live for the glory of yourself.
Or you can face the future with gratitude, generosity, and graciousness and live for the glory of God. Which one do you think will make you happier? Which one do you think will make you more successful? Which one do you think will bring a smile to God and the reward of heaven?
Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (ESV).
We were created because God wants a family. He wants to spend eternity with his family. He wants to spend eternity with you and me! Heaven is one of the most important reasons Christians can be joyful—God has given us eternal life, and heaven will be amazing!
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick
Talk It Over

In what ways does God use your time on Earth to prepare you for eternity?
How does being grateful and generous make you happier?
When you expect the worst in life, what does that say about what you believe about God?

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