Remember the story of the eagle who was raised by chickens?
From her nest in the barnyard, she spots an eagle soaring confidently through the clouds. Her heart beats rapidly. "I can do that!" she whispers. The other chickens laugh, but she knows better. She was born for something more. She can soar. She never lost hope, and then, one day, she lifted herself up and began to soar!
We are like that eagle!
Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us: "He has put eternity in their heart."
Deep down we have a hunch that our ordinary lives can have meaning and purpose and that we were made to know that meaning and purpose -- and we were made to live forever!
Think about Paul's words -
"Therefore we do not lose hope. 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 on what is seen, not what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Max Lucado reminds us --
"If life's troubles are momentary, can't we endure them for just a moment? We can be sick for just a moment...we can be lonely for just a moment...we can be persecuted for just a moment....we can struggle for just a moment...can't we endure any challenge for just a moment?
It's not about us anyway. And it's not about now."
-- from It's Not About Me
How Peterson paraphrases the passage --
"So we are not giving up. How could we? Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without His unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever."
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