March 4 – Seize the Kingdom

“If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’ “ (1 Corinthians 15:32)

IN WORD:
The carpe diem philosophy — “seize the day” — is as old as humanity. It is written of in Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, and a parable of Jesus, but its practitioners have an older history than that. They assume that human life is short and that our capacity for enjoyment is limited to our physical life span. Pleasure is a god in itself — a god with a very short reign.
This is probably the prevailing Western philosophy of our day. We hear it whenever someone remarks, “Well, as long as he’s happy and not hurting anyone, what does it matter what he does?” We see it in our arts & entertainment. And, like it or not, we believers often act as if it’s our philosophy too. Ours is not a culture that often denies short-term pleasure for long-term gain. The question for us is how much of our culture we’ll absorb.
Paul’s indictment against this philosophy, whether it’s full-fledged hedonism or simple shortsightedness, is based on the Resurrection. Because we now know that life is eternal, seizing the day for immediate gain is folly. It exchanges eternal blessings for temporal satisfaction. It forfeits the truly meaningful for the truly mundane. It’s like trading away a Rembrandt for a drawing in the sand, or forsaking life in a mansion for a weekend trip. It’s dumb.

IN DEED:
As Christians, we must frequently take an inventory of our life. Are we living in light of eternity? Or are we offering up our most valuable resources for a momentary benefit? To know the difference, we must be sensitive to the motivations behind our actions. Are our morals based on eternal considerations? Why do we spend our money the way we do? Is it for today alone or for the Kingdom of God? What about our time? Our energy? Our talents? Know yourself well, and rearrange your life, if you must. Seize the Kingdom. It lasts.

“He who provides for this life, but takes no care for eternity, is wise for a moment, but a fool forever.” -John Tillotson-