The older I am growing, the more I find myself thinking of the things that are eternal. Some of the things that once occupied my time and my attention have now become obsolete or irrelevant as I am more and more captured by the things that are deeper and will last forever.

It was C.S. Lewis who said, “All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.”
Richard Foster in his book, Celebration of Discipline, gives helpful perspective regarding the culture of the world in which we live that is in conflict with a culture that is deep and eternal. He writes, “Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need for today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deeper people.”

A leader with whom I was privileged to spend time in years gone by, was J. Oswald Sanders and I recall him asking the question, “Why is it that usually older people think of the eternal things, of dying and heaven?” The last time I met with him he was writing what proved to be his last book, Heaven Better by Far. He said he was writing it because he would soon be going there, and he wanted to do some research on where he would be spending eternity. In fact, he died before he finished the book and a friend had to put the finishing touches to it.

In my senior years, I find myself……

• living a season of life that I have never lived before with its own unique opportunities and possibilities. It is a season to embrace, and it is a season that I want to live to the full.

• wanting to be a good steward of the time God continues to entrust to me. I don’t consider ‘retirement’ an option as “my life is not my own, I have been bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I am living my life as a steward, knowing that one day I will stand before the Lord and be able to say to Him, “I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave me to do.”
  John 17:4
• guarding my attitude as I travel through this season of life for I know that I cannot control the circumstances that come my way, whether good or bad, but I can guard my attitude toward these circumstances. Paul’s words to the Corinthians are a great help to me as I focus on the things that are eternal. “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an ETERNAL glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is ETERNAL.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
• wanting to be a good steward of the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit gave to me when I became a Christian. I find no word in the Bible that tells me that my gifts will one day pass away. I have been given the gifts of leadership and teaching and I have found that God has opened some amazing doors for me to use my gifts in this season of my life; doors that are beyond anything I could have imagined. In the last 4 years, I have written over 200 articles that are being used by leaders in a growing number of countries, I have conducted leadership training courses online in overseas countries and I am mentoring leaders near and far.
• giving quality time to the things that will last for ETERNITY. “Only three things will last for eternity; God, the Word of God, and the human soul.” Jerry White
• never wanting to stop learning and growing to be a better person. I don’t want to be like a person who is dead at 60 and buried at 80. When people stop growing, they stop living.
  Gordon MacDonald, who wrote the book A Resilient Life, said at the age of 85 that, “The saddest thing is to awaken at old age and discover you have been using a small part of your potential.”
• finding great satisfaction in living more simply. Sue and I find great enjoyment drinking a takeaway coffee in a nearby park or catching up with friends where we can add value to each other’s lives as we fellowship at home with some of Sue’s homemade refreshments.
• being comfortable with aloneness that allows me to make the most of this unique season of my life where I have quality time to read and reflect and write.
• being satisfied with all that I have as I won’t be taking anything with me when my life on this earth is over. Jesus spoke of things eternal when He said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moth and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21
• living in the expectation of the return of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to this earth. Peter challenged his readers “to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” Why did he say this? Because “the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” 2 Peter 3:10-12
• in these uncertain times focusing on maintaining a strong foundation in my life as the foundations of the world around us are rapidly deteriorating. David asked the question, “When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?” His answer was that instead of taking refuge in some man- made retreat, we are to take refuge in the Lord (Psalm 11), our strength and shield.

Some early Christians had a saying, “Memento mori” which translated means, “Remember you must die.”
It was placed on their tombstones as a reminder for the living.

Focusing on things eternal above all else reminds me that heaven is a prepared place for prepared people. “God has set eternity in our hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) to remind us that there is something more than life on this earth.
C.S. Lewis said, “this world that seems so substantial is no more than the shadowlands. Real life has not yet begun.”

John wrote, “And this is what God has testified; He has given us ETERNAL life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have ETERNAL life”
1 John 5:11-13

Arthur Stace was an alcoholic from his teenage years until the early 1930s, when he converted to Christianity and began to spread his message by inscribing the word Eternity in copperplate writing with yellow chalk on footpaths and doorsteps in and around Sydney from 1932 until his death in 1967. The story of his life has inspired books, museum exhibits, statues, an opera and a film. He too like C.S. Lewis knew that “All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.” How about you?