EVERYTHING MUST BE VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF ETERNITY!
That needs clarification. We all, no exceptions, face death, even creation. Death is the great equalizer. The ultra-rich may keep death at bay for a while, but there is no escape. Creation too, faces death, as she too has been – just as we – contaminated to the core, and needs a total rejuvenation.
Christians are followers of the WAY, the WAY that leads to eternity, an eternity not enjoyed in heaven, as John 3: 13 clearly attests, but on a renewed earth, outlined unambiguously, in Revelation 21. She, terra firma, on ‘mother earth’, remains our destination: there is where we go, to enjoy God forever, in total subjection to his will. That’s why now, today and every day, we must have our aim in life directed to that goal: “Everything must be viewed in the light of eternity”! That, and only that, must motivate our actions, in thought and deed.
When our youngest daughter moved to Minneapolis/St. Paul, her house was close to the Luther Seminary and its bookstore. There I discovered Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, who was born in 1906, obtained his first doctorate at the age of 21, his second one a few years later. There I bought three Bonhoeffer books, his 560 pages A Testament to Freedom, and Creation and Fall, and Dr. Sabine Dramm’s book: “Dietrich Bonhoeffer: an introduction to his thought”.
At the conclusion of that book, she writes: “What Bonhoeffer presents as specific to the Christian Faith is the perception of God and Creation as one, and the perception of life that has its wellspring in this world in God, and in turn proceeds from this world back again to God.” Yes, reread that last quote: it is revolutionary! Yet it makes eminent sense to me.
Great artists – Shakespeare, Bach, Rembrandt – are known by their legacy. In the same way, God is primarily known by his ‘work of art’, that’s why Paul, in Romans 1: 20, writes, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
That’s why my writing has been dominated by The New Creation.
There’s where my mission now lies: writing a world-wide-web BLOG: www.hielema.ca., indeed, viewed everywhere.
In 1995 I wrote a novel, imagining THE NEW CREATION. I called it: DAY WITHOUT END, still available both in print and on the web. It set the course for my life.
I write every-day. I start the day with reading the lectionary for the day, obtained from Vanderbilt Theological School. Done it for 36 years. The daily Bible readings usually contain a Psalm or a portion thereof, an Old Testament and a New Testament reading. I highlight and copy a text that appeals to me, paste it in my Word section, and start writing some 250-300 words. Good discipline.
All week I have my weekly blog in mind. That too is an excellent tool. There is a saying: a person does not know what he/she thinks, until read what was written.
And then I read.
It is only out of the future that the present can be lived….
I sincerely believe that: “It is only out of the future that the present can be lived…. We are children of the future…..Christ does not lead us in a religious flight from this world to other worlds beyond, rather, he gives us back to the earth as its loyal children….but …We have fallen into secularism, and by secularism I mean pious Christian secularism….the Christian renunciation of God as the Lord of the earth.”
FREEDOM.
That truth – God as Lord of the earth – allows as tremendous freedom. We must work from the principle that Jesus Christ has liberated us to think, to write, to act, to move in total freedom, and allows us to proceed ahead ‘in love’: freedom and love go hand in hand. Everything must be viewed “In the light of eternity”! And then, the course taken will be the right one.
That’s why we must, as Scott Peck wrote, take “The Road less traveled!”. Perhaps a lonely road, but all is well that ends well. It’s the goal that counts.
Nietzsche, in his Thus spoke Zarathustra, wrote: “I entreat you, brothers/sisters, remain true to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of super terrestrial hopes! They are poisoners, whether they know it or not.”
We are here to discover the truth. The truth is that Christ gives us back to the earth as its loyal children: total freedom to love and explore:
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8: 32