I have a confession to make. I have found myself more often than not waking up and feeling like my day is pointless. It’s as simple as waking up and seeing no purpose in going to school, a lack of motivation to stay awake during class, or turn my homework in on time. Nothing major or a life-crushing existential crisis of “what’s my purpose in life, who am I” I know my ultimate purpose in life is to know Jesus and make him known but what does that really mean day to day. Although some would classify this lack of purpose as senioritis (and yes I classified it as that too) I have now come to the conclusion that it is due to a lack of eternal perspective.
Flashback to a few weeks ago (April 27th), I was boppin on the dance floor with one of my world race sisters, Mallory, she had come down from Dallas to go to Prom with me. We had a blast at the dance and after went to after prom (we basically just run around the REC from 12-4am exhausted yet full of energy, it’s a paradox). Besides the point I was determined to win one of the senior scholarships (spoiler: I now have 500 extra dollars yayyy) but in order to win the raffle you had to have tickets which we lacked. Mal and I walked around the place just to see what was happening and at bubble soccer I saw one of my good ole pals Hayley Nugent (S/O @hayleynuge) but in all honesty we’ve only ran into each other at coffee shops and strange encounters. Regardless, I went to say hi and some of the other Consol YL leaders were over there helping. I recognized a guy named Kit who I had talked to first semester about the race because he was an alumni. Being with Mallory I went up and introduced her cause you know #worldracethings but we were going to leave then ended up in a 30 minute conversation about Kit’s world race experience and other random things (yo kit if you’re reading this you rock). ANYWAY somewhere along the conversation he asked If we were going to get tattoos on the race to which I immediately replied yes (sorry mom & dad its inevitable). But he showed us his which was in Nepali (idk why peeps always get tats in EVERY language but English??).
I asked what it meant and he said Rainbow Kitten surprise, his favorite band. I was utterly shocked and mortified at the stupidity of this man who got ‘rainbow kitten surprise’ tattooed in huge Nepali letters across his bicep. World race?? What was I getting myself into. In all honesty he came clean and revealed that it instead said ‘eternal perspective.’
I had never heard this term used before and was immediately intrigued. He explained someone had said it in his first months of the race when they were sitting around and not being very productive. ‘if we truly have eternal perspective, we’d be out everyday reaching out to the lost.’
It’s the perfect word, I have been describing throughout my senior year but had no way of placing my tongue on a specific definition. It gives definition to the idea of ‘daily purpose’ not only overall purpose which I already knew and was confident in. But eternal perspective places so much weight on our everyday actions and our everyday decisions and claims them all as important.
If I had eternal perspective every day of my senior year I would have worked so much harder each day to pursue my fellow students and to strive to make them feel loved and come to know the savior I am so in love with, but it is easy to lose sight of eternal perspective and become complacent in laziness and ‘waiting for tomorrow.’ But some people don’t have a tomorrow, some people don’t have time. Eternal perspective puts responsibility on believers to live out the gospel in our daily lives.
When we are not living out eternal perspective, we are not truly understanding the weight of Jesus’ sacrifice, the grace he gives us, or the simple fact that we all have a common destiny: death. As a believer, I do not fear death and honestly welcome the idea of being reunited with Jesus (how sweeeeeet!!) however, not everyone has this same assurance possibly because believers around them weren’t living out of eternal perspective but instead out of selfish perspective: what can I do for me? What will inconvenience me the least? How can I stay in my comfort zone? All of these are questions I subconsciously answer when I choose not to pursue the people around me and choose not to share the Good news of the Good News.
Having eternal perspective does not mean running around shouting Jesus’ name, although it could mean that, I often see people convey the Gospel by meeting with others where they are at. Welcoming people with open arms willing to listen. Jesus is a comforting hug, Jesus is an encouraging word, Jesus is the early coffee dates, Jesus is the inconvenient way home in order to give a friend a ride. Jesus is also responding to conflict instead of reacting to conflict, Jesus is forgiving those who have hurt you, Jesus is loving the unlovable.
The enemy tries to discourage us by making pursuing Jesus seem hard and ‘out of the way.’ While although this may be true during some seasons of life – having an eternal mindset is simply choosing to draw nearer to God each day instead of farther. “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” is an often overused bible verse meant to reference how God is not a harsh God, often the ‘yoke’ people interpret it as is a mechanism used to steer cattle. However, a ‘yoke’ is also the rules Rabbi’s set up for Jews to follow in order to correctly live out the Jewish faith. “my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” in reality isn’t referencing a mechanism used for cattle but is saying that there are not many rules to follow Jesus, you don’t have to be perfect, you must only believe Jesus Christ is the son of God and that he was crucified so that we may be forgiven for our sins.
Don’t get caught up in trying to pursue the ‘radical’ ways of Christianity. Instead pursue simple changes that will lead to radical involvement by the holy spirit.
Ask yourself: what did I do today to pursue eternal perspective?
With-a-weight-lifted-off-my-shoulders,
El
