The guiding premise of the book is "whether we live with eternity in view or not, there is one things we need to understand: God always responds to us with eternity in view" (p. 34). So with this view in mind, and as it develops in us, we can better see how our living in this world (which is not our final destination) and disappointments and difficulties we encounter better prepare us for the next. Tripp discusses how not one person can escape the reality of death on this earth, both physical and spiritual:
What do spiritually dead people do? They put themselves in the middle of their universe and look to things to give them what only God can give. They live for physical pleasure, not spiritual communion. They become obsessed with their own little kingdoms instead of with God's. They deny their dependency. They act as if they are autonomous and self-sufficient. They write their own laws and live to fulfill their own dreams. They live with the pleasures of this present, physical world as their highest hope and dream. Incessant pleasure researchers and accountants, they again and again ask, "Where are the best pleasures to be found?" and "Who around me has more pleasure than I do?" (p. 45)We make life about us and not God as the centre. But this is not the way it should be. "This is not the way the world was created, and this is not who we were designed to be. We were designed to live with both King and kingdom consciousness, because we were designed to live for God" (p. 49). God wants the fact that the earthly things we run after never satisfy us to point us to Him as the only true satisfaction.
God's grace frees us to live with eternity in view and as we immerse ourselves in the Word and surround ourselves with people who encourage us to take God at his word (p. 64), we will see God "doing the one things we don't have the ability to do ourselves: kill death" (p. 68).
We can live with mystery and we can live in the middle of things we cannot control, because the gift of eternal life guarantees that we will be protected by God's power until forever is our final home...The grace of eternal life frees me from carrying the burden of having to convince myself and others that I am righteous. Eternal life means I have been forgiven, and since I have, God will never turn his back on me and walk away. I no longer have to live in guilt and shame. I no longer have to fear being known. I don't have to deny my weaknesses and failures. The gift of forever guarantees that I have been and will be forgiven and that everything that is broken inside of me will be completely repaired (p. 73)As we begin to place all our hope in God, and make the connection with the eternity He has in mind with us, our weak places and wounds will come into focus but "the brokenness and longing that intersect in our hearts are meant not to drive us to cynicism and despair, but to God" (p. 100). We will realize that the temporary things of this world and the people in it cannot be our hope and we can't burden others with being our hope. "God has made you hope rich, so stop living as if you are hope poor" (p. 104).
When we approach our lives from the perspective of forever, the suffering and heartache that often come are not as difficult as they would be without this view. "Knowing that Christ lives in us makes it possible for us to get up in the morning when circumstances are hard and the relationships around us are messy. We don't have to fear what things we'll have to deal with that are just around the corner. Our rest is not to be found in our understanding of everything in our lives or the sense that we have what it takes to face our trials. Christ is our rest, hope, courage, and motivation. Because of his amazing grace and his presence now living inside us, we are never alone, never left to live inside the boundaries of our own resources" (p. 119). This helps us greatly when we are approaching personal relationships and unrealistic expectations we have placed on people around us. "When we are looking at a problem from the perspective of the vastness of eternity, we are able to keep it in perspective and to resist turning a garden-variety human weakness into a heinous crime" (p. 129). I can tell you with all honesty that I need to put that on my fridge on a bright pink post-it and commit it to memory! When we allow ourselves to be defined by our relationships with fellow sinful human beings, trouble is brewing. "No human being is capable of holding and protecting anyone else's happiness. No human being can give someone else inner rest. Why? Because every person is broken by sin and in need of the transformation of grace. When we look to someone else to be our place of spiritual wholeness, we place a burden on them that they simply will not be able to bear" (p. 130).
I so appreciated his chapter on forever and parenting. He stresses that children need to be rescued from themselves again and again and how we do that is to introduce them to the thing that is vastly bigger than themselves. "You job is to help them to understand who they are and who God is and what life all about, so that in the various situations and relationships of their lives they will live in a way that is consistent with God's plot" (p. 143). Our children need to be told consistently and constantly that the desire of their hearts can only be fulfilled by God. So their relationship with God should be of utmost importance.
Disobedience is not first about the breaking of some abstract rule; it is about breaking relationship with God. When your children ignore God, they find it easy to disobey his commands. Consequences have to do with the authority of God and the ultimate question of whether your kids have lived in submission to his will in the particular relationships and situations that make up their lives. Imparting to your children a harvest mentality is a very important piece of what it means to function as God's agent in their lives. So we need to talk to our children repeatedly about the loving heavenly Father who graces us with his wisdom and sets up for us boundaries of protection, which don't rob us of life, but offer us life as it was designed to be enjoyed (p. 148).We must remember as we forge ahead in our lives that our plans and our perspective are, most often, not in complete alignment with God's will and His plans. But our God is so gracious that there will be times when He will even wait for us to come on board. "So he leads us into situations that take us way beyond the limits of our own strength and wisdom. He uses difficulty to expose our weaknesses of character, wisdom, desire, thought, word, and action. And he does all of this so that we will admit our need, cry out for his help, and receive his transforming grace" (p. 177).
In all this though, God wants us to experience the real joy He has for us. It is a vertical joy and is rooted in us believing that the story He tells and the promises He makes are real. "When we live with forever in view and when we look at life from the vantage point of the whole story, we will experience a joy that is so resilient, so sturdy, that it does not evaporate in the face of hardship" (p. 199). "True joy is not just a feeling; it is a lifestyle...this side of forever, we have to fight for our joy. Yes, it is God's gift to us, but we have to learn what it means to live in light of the gift we have been given" (p. 200).
I would encourage you to read this book and find some treasures in it that will help you gain a 'forever focus'. Remember where you are made for long-term, because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world (John 15:19).
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