1) If I found out that Jesus would return tomorrow, how would I live today?
2) If I found out that I would die tomorrow, how would I live today?
The interesting thing here is that my natural responses to these almost identical questions are complete opposites from one another.
My response to question one is that I would certainly drop all of the "priorities" that I once had, no longer worrying about food, money, bills, or social standing, and run outside, trying with every last breath to prepare the people that I love so that they might know Jesus.
My response to question two is that I would probably view the day as my day, and spend it trying to experience all of the things that I enjoy, seeing only the people that I enjoy seeing.
To break these answers down into their roughest state, we'll call answer 1) selfless and answer 2) selfish.
I think that the differing responses come from the differing perspectives from which I view each question. For the first, I approach it with my eyes looking ahead to God. With the second, my eyes are turned inside toward myself. Even writing that, the second seems harsh and extreme, but as I look at the results of that, I'm forced to recognize something equally harsh. The life lived out by the inward gaze is the life that I actually live. In fact, the life lived out by fixing one's eyes on God seems foreign and unrealistic in the world we exist in.
However, it only takes one glance at the bible to realize that this foreign, unrealistic way was the way displayed by the disciples in the new testament.
Alright, that's my thought for the morning. I'm not going to proof read it or even finish it. Just think it over and finish it for me.
