The Eternal Long Game

In my last blog, I advocated playing the long game, both financially and spiritually. Support for playing the spiritual long game comes from a statistic that 84% of Americans believe in eternal life after we die. Why do so many Americans believe this? The Bible says we are hard wired with this belief, because God has “set eternity into the hearts of men.” (Eccl. 3:11)

If this is true, why don’t we spend more time thinking about eternal life and how to obtain it? If it’s eternal, isn’t it way more important than our average lifespan of eighty or so years spent on earth?

You’d think. But my time spent thinking, truly thinking, about eternal life is insignificant compared to my time spent thinking about non-eternal worldly matters. Perhaps this is because our time-bound minds cannot fathom eternity. More likely for me is that my worldly to-do list seems more pressing. It’s almost as if the world opposes eternal life, and in order to contemplate and seek eternity, I have to oppose the world.

The Bible agrees. Jesus says the “man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (Jn 12:26) Hating our worldly life to achieve eternal life seems harsh, but you probably know what is meant by this hyperbole. Another pathway to eternity is to rely on God as King David prayed. “Search me, O God, and know my heart… lead me in the way everlasting.” (Ps 139:23-24)