“Live your best life now” and “YOLO” are modern-day sentiments that King Solomon would have related to. He spent his life going after whatever he wanted. Houses and vineyards. Servants and concubines. Silver and gold. Wisdom and experience. He did not deny himself anything. Yet when he reached the end of his life, what did he call all of it? Futile. Pointless. Meaningless.
I said to myself, “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. – Ecclesiastes 2:1 NLT
Eventually, Solomon died, and over the course of history, all he had achieved was ruined. It all amounted to nothing. The same will be true for us if we do not assign eternal purpose to our pursuits. We can spend our life chasing the “good things” this world has and completely miss the best things God has. None of the things we achieve will mean anything if the end goal is just to achieve them. When we die, our earthly gains will be left behind and vanish with this world. Only that which has eternal purpose will last.
Assign eternal purpose to your money.
Regardless of how much (or how little) money you have, you can impact the Kingdom of God with it. God doesn’t need your money, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. But He has blessed you with the opportunity to participate in His Kingdom work. Is your focus on what your money can do for you or what it can do for God?
Assign eternal purpose to your time.
A couple of years ago I decided to be more intentional with my time. It’s a work in progress, but I’ve become aware of how much time I waste when I’m not paying attention. We spend time on the things that matter to us. Jesus is the perfect example. He spent time alone with His Father (Luke 5:16). He spent time in the temple learning and sharing Scripture (Luke 4:16). He spent time loving the lost, making disciples and spreading the good news of salvation. Does your schedule resemble Jesus’?
Assign eternal purpose to your talents & passions.
Think about the talents you excel at and the passions that drive you. Those were given to you by your Creator to be used for His glory. When people see you in action, do they see Jesus? Use your talents and passions to bring hope and encouragement to a lost world. Use them to build and edify the church. Be an active part of the body of Christ. If God’s purposes are not at the center of all you do, you will expend your God-given talents and passions and have nothing in eternity to show for them.
Assign eternal purpose to your pursuit of wisdom.
Your brain is incredible. It can absorb and retain an endless amount of information. Even Jesus continued to learn when He walked this earth. (Luke 2:52). But what you fill your brain with and what you do with all that wisdom matters. For all Jesus learned throughout His life, His focus never shifted from His earthly mission to reveal God and save the world. Use your God-given capacity to gain wisdom and apply it for God’s purposes. Then the difference you make will extend into eternity.
Solomon recognized that everything on earth would one day come to an end, but he also recognized that God planted a sense of divine purpose in the human heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11) Our earthly accomplishments will not impact our eternal destination, only salvation through Jesus Christ can do that. But when we assign eternal purpose to our earthly endeavors, we can make them matter for eternity.
Lord, may all I achieve and do and learn have an eternal purpose. May I always be focused on helping others, edifying believers, and spreading the gospel. In Jesus’ name, amen.
