How long will you live on this earth? 70 years? Maybe 80? The people who live the longest on this planet may make it to 100. Sounds like a long time, doesn't it?
Consider that up until Noah, men routinely lived into their 900's. Adam - THE Adam - the first man God created, lived until he was 930. He was fathering children in his 100's. If that sounds astounding, you may keel over when you hear that Noah was becoming a proud papa in his 500's. Whoa. As far as we know, Methuselah holds the honor of being the oldest man at 969.
But, even if you live a Methuselah-esque life of almost a thousand years, what is that in the span of eternity? God has been forever. I know, impossible to fathom. But, that's a long time. And, He will be forever. And, so will we.
Randy Alcorn proposed this exercise to help illustrate Treasure Principle Key #4: Get a pencil and a piece of paper. On the paper, make a dot. From the dot, draw a line extending out to the right. Draw an arrow on the end of the line. The dot - no matter how large or small - represents your life on earth. The line represents eternity.
Alcorn says, "Right now, we're living in the dot. But, what are we living for? The shortsighted person lives for the dot. The person with perspective lives for the line."
Treasure Principle Key #4 - I shall live, not for the dot, but for the line.
In my last post, I mentioned that virtually all stuff ultimately winds up in a yard sale or junk heap. The person who lives for the dot spends his or her time accumulating things that wind up in the trash. The person living for the line is accumulating eternal wealth in heaven.
As Alcorn states, "Giving is living for the line."
We know we cannot take it with us. So, we are faced with a tough decision: spend it now for temporary satisfaction, or invest it in the Kingdom by giving, and reaping eternal rewards.
The choice is yours: live for the dot, or live for the line.
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