We only have one life to live, how are you living it? This is a powerful analogy enlightens our mind of how short our life here on earth compared to the life that we will one day have in eternity.
Ptr. Francis Chan through this rope illustration teaches us to live for eternity. The choices that we make today affects us eternally. How we live our lives today will determine how we’re going to spend our eternity.
“Everything I do is gonna bring either reward or regret. It really is!” Francis said. And he goes on by bringing out that long rope that represents the timeline of our existence for eternity. And the life that we live here on earth? It is represented by a red portion which is just an inch of that long rope.
“Imagine this rope goes on forever and imagine that this rope is a timeline of your existence. You see this red part? This would represent your time on earth.” Francis goes on to say “And what blows me away is that for some of you, all of you consumed with thinking about this small red part.”
True enough, yes. We all have the tendency to live our lives enjoying that short part of the rope without thinking of the eternity ahead. The pleasure and comfort of this life consume us. All these things blind us of the life that eternity in stores for us.“What I do during this little red part, determines how I’m gonna exist for millions and millions and millions of years forever!”
“Everyone’s living for that red part. No one’s thinking for the millions of years afterward. It’s a crazy deception that we can’t get out of our minds.”
Ptr. Francis Chan teaches us to live this life with an eternal mindset. Like a runner, we should not focus our eyes on the race itself, but on the prize that we have at the end of this race that we are running.
“…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of faith.”—Hebrews 12:1-2
Following Jesus is costly. It will cost you comfort, relationships, and even your life. However, following Jesus is also rewarding. And one of the rewards that Jesus promises for those who follow him is eternal life.
“Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.“—Mark 10:28-30