Time, Money and the Reality of Eternity

 

To answer the question, “what is the point?” for oneself, one only needs to look at how one’s time and money is spent. In life, there are necessities and there are luxuries. Depending on the lifestyle you choose, these categories will appear different. The unmarried, the married and the monastic will all have different necessities and luxuries. There seems to be an unquestioned presumption that if you are not a monastic, you can spend your time and money however you prefer as long as it is not immoral or illegal.

One easy answer is to argue that ultimately 99.999% of all people are irrelevant, for in the grand scheme of things, our thoughts and actions will have no lasting impact on reality as a whole. But this is the easy way out. Yes, it is true that most of us will have little impact in the big picture, but we can have an impact on ourselves and on others right now. If we know someone who is hungry and we indulge ourselves on some triviality, what do these actions communicate? If we know someone is struggling and lonely, yet we burn up our time in entertainment and distraction, we are we saying to that person?

We should never impose our interpretation of someone else’s life or choices upon them. Assessment needs to be self-assessment. Can you justify your use of time and money in the framework of “Love God and love your neighbor”? From the Christian perspective, our life on earth is a time to prepare for eternity and the state of our soul when we die will determine our eternal state. If you have spent the majority of your time and money on comfort and entertainment, your eternity will not be pleasant, for you will be in the presence of holiness and it will seem foreign to you.

If you have spent your time and efforts on being holy, on loving God, and on loving your neighbor, your soul will be that much closer to holiness and your eternal state will that much more glorious. Knowing your destination will allow you to better prepare for your own eternal state and, more importantly, others’ eternal state. If we can move someone else toward holiness, we then too are thinking and acting right.