Our life’s purpose is to prepare for eternity

This is the first of the What's so great series.

Written on 20 Oct 2007.

Yesterday’s cell group can be summed up as follows:

“Our life’s purpose is to prepare for eternity.”

This was taken from the interview with Rick Warren when he was asked, what is the purpose of life? Surely this must be the reason for our living. Life is just an interlude to the greatness that awaits us in the Glorious Beyond. It is the guarded and treasured hope that our life here and now is merely a pilgrim’s progress, a discovering itinerary, a taking-notes session, a resting sojourn for what lies ahead in eternity. So, don’t take things too hard.

Don’t let hang-ups hang you up. Don’t stay depress for too long. Don’t wallow in the low and never get up. It is all a dress rehearsal for the real thing. Of course, this is not a license to squander your life away. It is not a permit to waste or a reason for haste. It is not a call to apathy, slumber or laze.

I believe Rick Warren meant it to be empowering. Like all hope and promises in the Bible, it is a wellspring of motivation and passion. When applied in my life, I internalize this truth to mean that nothing, and I repeat, NOTHING is as grim and gloomy as it first hits you. There is always a way. Doors will always open when one or two are shut. A dead end is never, never dead or end.

Jesus has shown us how something so bad can turn out so good. How his horrific death can become such a lifeline for millions. How a sacrifice so gruesome and hopeless can be so glorious and hopeful. So, let’s prepare for eternity. Let’s take to heart that life’s challenges will never let up; but at the same time, our God will never give us up. Indeed, we were made by God and for God and in Him, we are complete. It will take time sometimes to internalize this truth and to allow it to make a difference in our life. But that difference, once consistently nurtured, will surely show up in our life. It will then become infectious, in a good way, and others will come to see Christ in us. Rick Warren calls it character building. He says, “God is more interested in our character than our comfort.”

Truly, we learn nothing or at least close to nothing, when we are sleeping in comfort, rolling in financial security, pampered by materialism and puff up by flattery, empty praises and sycophancy. I am not saying that we should not enjoy a little or live a little sometimes. But, can anyone tell me that a life of wealth and fortune will bring more wisdom and inspiration than a life that has just overcome crisis, failure and death? Since we cannot avoid the latter (crisis, failure and death), my philosophy is, Why not draw strength from God and let our character grow out of it?

Lastly, Rick Warren made these incisive remarks, “No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.” I learn two lessons here: Balance and thanksgiving. There is always a balance to be achieved in our life. It is the balance of blessings on one side and on the other, self-improvement. If our life is to prepare for eternity, we must make sure that we are ready for it.

How ready are you to give an account to God? How ready are you to hear those words ring in your ears? - “welcome my good and faithful servant, for whom I am well-pleased.” I believe that everything we do is contributing either to our progress or digress. We are either staying the course or straying from it. We cannot say that we are neither advancing nor retreating. There is no middle ground, no sitting on the fence and no resting on our laurels. I am a work in progress. Sometimes, I am a work in digress. But I am never a work without either. When I think I am not doing anything, I am surely digressing. When I think I have done enough, I am digressing. When I am self-satisfied, I am not improving.

Life is being something and not nothing. There must always be a continuous effort to improve. There is always sometime to be improved upon - something inside of us that requires polishing, pruning and perfecting. This is how our life can be kept “meaningfully busy” – a paradoxical discipline of character building and growing. The other lesson is thanksgiving. Counting our blessings is often quoted but seldom applied. We fight with our desires most of the time. We struggle with envy and striving and wrestle with high expectations and wishful thinking. Nothing is really enough for us. (I am speaking to those who experienced an internal conflict with contentment and insatiable appetites for fame, fortune and personal recognition – I know I have). Even for those who professed to be contented, there are times they blame themselves for not trying hard enough, feel the guilt of missed opportunities and compare bitterly their current station in life with those who are more materially endowed. This is a mental disease called “social comparison”. Gore Vidal once said, “When I hear of the success of my friends, something inside of me dies a little.”

Here is the antidote: Life is preparation for eternity. It really doesn’t matter that we are less materially endowed, less physically appealing, less circumstantially favored or less intellectually charismatic than the majority at large. All it really matters is that you and the 6-billion others share one common destiny – Eternity. And also one common designer of that eternity – God. I have learned that this life is not so much a showcase of what we own materially, what we have achieved academically or what we are born with physically. But it is, much more importantly, about our relationships with our loved ones and our Creator. And you cannot be any more democratic when it comes to relationship building.

What I mean is that we all stand on equal footing when building relationship is concerned. No one is more endowed, more qualified or more equipped when he or she is called to sow, develop and nurture relationships. We cannot say that the pretty or rich can do it better. Relationship is an individual responsibility with individual accountability – especially our relationship with God. God is no respecter of persons. So, the rich or poor, the good lookers or otherwise or the slim or cholesterolly-challenged, all come to God on equal terms. And a good, enduring relationship is the greatest blessing of all, far exceeding riches, fame and power.

So, wherever you are in life, whatever your status, treasure and build your relationships, in particular the one you have with God, because in the end, what truly counts in this life and the life to come, is the relationships we have sowed and nurtured along the way.

Michael Han
20 Oct 2007