Earth tatters

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Isaiah 51:1-23

TO CHEW ON: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens

And look on the earth beneath.

For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,

And the earth will grow old like a garment,

And those who dwell in it will die in like manner.

But My salvation will be forever

And My righteousness will not be abolished." Isaiah 51:6

Our society is obsessed with the state of Earth. Hardly a week goes but but we're not warned that if we don't drive less, pollute less, procreate less, use less water, fish less, and on and on, our planet is doomed. Such warnings may be warranted. For the Bible makes no secret of the fact that planet Earth will change and is temporary:

• "They will perish...yes they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak you will change them.." - Psalm 102:26 

• "The earth mourns and fades away..." - Isaiah 24:4.

• "The host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll..." - Isaiah 34:4.

• "Heaven and earth shall pass away..." - Matthew 24:35.

• "...the things which are seen are temporary..."- 2 Corinthians 4:18.

• "...the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will meet with fervent heat" - 2 Peter 3:10.

• "The world is passing away, and the lust of it" - 1 John 2:17.

In the light of all that, it is only wise to shift one's focus from the things of this transitory, mutable, doomed Earth to that which doesn't and won't change. We need to expend our energies on the things that last. What are those?

• God - Psalm 102:27; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 1:12.

• Jesus - Hebrews 13:8.

• Jesus' words - Matthew 24:35. 

• God's word - 1 Peter 1:25.

• God's dominion - Daniel 7:14.

• "The counsel of the Lord, the plans of His heart" - Psalm 33:11.

• God's salvation and righteousness - Isaiah 51:6 (our focus verse).

• Quality work built on the foundation of Jesus - 1 Corinthians 3:11-15.

("To build on the foundation a building of durable material [gold, silver, precious stones] is to teach sound doctrine and live a life of fidelity to the truth thus leading converts to spiritual maturity. To build with perishable material [wood, hay, stubble] is to provide inadequate or unsound teaching or to compromise the truth by demonstrating a lifestyle that contradicts or fails to model it" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1583.)

How easy it is to give a mental nod to the fact of Earth's impermanence while we continue to live as if it is a lasting reality.

May God grip my heart (yours too?) with His reality, so that "The things of earth will grow strangely dim / In the light of His glory and grace."

PRAYER: Dear God, I'm guilty of living as if life on Earth is the real thing. Help me to grasp, at a heart level, how brief and impermanent this life is, and to change my focus and give my energy to what is real and lasting. Amen.

MORE: "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" - Cynthia Clawson