This past month my team and I were in Southeast Asia doing manual labor helping to construct a pig and mushroom farm. The vision for this farm is to help create jobs and homes for 5 widowed families and to disciple them through this. In this culture it is all to common for a man to abandon his wife and family for a younger and "more beautiful" girl. This results in many orphaned children as the woman cannot financially support them after the husband leaves. By providing a steady source of income it ensures that the children will not be abandoned. If successful more farms are planned to be constructed in the future that will have a positive impact on many lives.
Throughout our time God really gave me a lot of joy and satisfaction knowing that I could literally see the finished project in mind. Even when the days were long and the sun was scorching, God constantly kept reminding me of how many families and lives that I got to be a part of helping through my labor. This always kept me motivated even when I didn't really feel like working in the heat of the day. It reminded me a lot of living life from eternity.
A constant theme that God has been teaching me throughout this journey is to live my life not only for but from eternity. Living conscious of eternity changes a man's perspective and alters the way he lives life. There is a wisdom to be found living with an awareness of heaven. It reveals just how fleeting this life really is. I've also seen how immeasurable amounts of joy may be drawn from living with this perspective to flood light in the hardships of life.
Living as though the end result is the only thing that matters keeps a man from pursuing the petty things that this world deems important as they are revealed for what they are -fleeting and unfulfilling. Living from the end result cultivates a new mindset and instils a fresh vision of the current reality that releases breakthrough and everlasting joy.
Hebrews 11:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Living with the end in mind changes everything
-Robert
Francis Chan: "Our greatest fear in life should not be at failing but at succeeding at things that don't really matter"
