Planning Your Thousand Year Future
The following was originally a talk given at my church's monthly teen devotional.
It's important to think about your future. Jesus told us to consider our spiritual future to be more important than our material one. Our material future is of little consequence in comparison to how we'll spend eternity. We'll live billions of years with the consequences of our spiritual decisions but only about seventy or eighty with the consequences of our material ones. I want to lead you through a thought experiment about your future.
A THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: You're a glorified being with a perfect indestructible body that you love. This is your resurrection body. You spend your days praising God in a beautiful environment far better than even your summer church camp. You're surrounded by quality moral friends who've suffered many of the same struggles you suffered while on earth and you've emerged from the devastation of these trials as triumphant victors over Satan. You feel happy, and you know this feeling of bliss will continue undisturbed for the next billion years. You feel you're living a rewarding and meaningful life. You fought hard against evil for seventy years and you're a veteran of the "war on sin." You're being rewarded for your struggle.
Disastrous scenario: You're suffering in Hell. You're ugly, deformed, and miserable. You wish you'd never been born. You know the next billion years will be just as miserable as the last thousand. You think back on your seventy years of conscious life in the old world (the world we're now in), and you feel like a complete failure. When the righteous people were fighting evil, you were just submitting to it and running away from moral combat. Both your pre death and post death lives have been worse than meaningless.
SIXTY YEARS FROM NOW
The doctor diagnosed you with terminal cancer. You're nearly eighty years old, so you knew it was eventually coming. The doctor says you have three months to live. For the next three months you walk around parks meditating on your life.
Hopeful scenario: You lived a great life. You had three kids who love you, and you raised them to be good Christians who've helped spread the gospel to their neighbors and around the world. One of them is serving as an overseas missionary. You remember when you sacrificed a high paying job to attend church more frequently, and you think about all the good memories you have attending Bible studies and encouraging other Christians to live holy lives. You live in a small inexpensive, albeit nice, home because you refused to put money before God. You think fondly of your spouse and how you fulfilled your vow to live faithfully to them for decades. You think about your never ending war with the world and trying to fight back temptations while influencing society. You think of the sacrifices you made in time, social connections, money, and talents in order to further the Kingdom of God. You fought hard, and now you're imagining the billions of future years you have to enjoy the reward God will give you for being his servant and warrior on earth. Death scares you, but you've lived your whole life knowing death was coming, and you prepared well.
Alternative scenario: You spent too much time chasing money and pleasure. You didn't think much about life. You only had one kid, but you never spent much time with them. You had a lucrative job, but your coworkers didn't think about God and didn't share much in common with you except worldliness. You can't think of anything substantial you've left as a legacy, and you realize people won't remember you for anything meaningful. Your nice house will be sold off, you never had any ideas or values people will fight or live for, and all the memories of personal pleasure will fade from memory after death. You don't know what awaits you after death, but you have a terrible fear the "crazy" religious folks might be right, and you might find yourself suffering for the next billion years in Hell fire. You have no hope, and your life has no lasting value.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: It's your wedding day. You saved yourself for the spouse you'll sleep with tonight. You love them on a deep level and the two of you share so much in common that you feel confident and optimistic about your future. Both of you are Christians who love God and his people. The spiritual direction of your life has already led to purity, faith, and identity. Now, in the form of marriage, you and your spouse are creating a new community. The two of you may not have much money, but you have love that extends beyond desire. You vow to live your lives for the purpose of furthering God's will in the world. You decide to spend a couple years doing mission work in China together.
Alternative scenario: You decided to become a "career person," and you've been promoted at your job, the money is flowing in, but you watch Netflix every night alone in your apartment. You go to the bar sometimes and meet up with some guy or girl you met on Tinder (or some other dating app), and you have a series of shallow relationships with various people that revolve around drinking, clubbing, and watching TV marathons. You don't go to church, you have no community, you have no sense of purpose. The money and cheap relationship are fun but they barely cover your shallow existence. You're ultimately empty inside, but you rarely ever stop to meditate for more than ten minutes. Ultimately, you're wasting your life.
ONE YEAR FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: You've read the whole Bible again. You have numerous questions about it. You're researching and finding answers and deepening your faith. You've firmly established a habit of praying at least twice a day. You've seriously analyzed the talents God's given you, and you've created a plan of action to utilize those talents in the short term, midterm, and long term. You actively encourage your fellow Christians to do the same.
Alternatively: You haven't internalized your faith. The Bible has become a mysterious document, and you're not really sure what's in it. You've lost interest in your long term future (your thousand year future). You just want to have "fun" and live a fast life full of glittery new things. You're wasting your talents and have no intention of using them for the God who gave them to you. You waste four hours a day scrolling Instagram and Facebook.
ONE WEEK FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: You've started a prayer journal. You've read a Bible book you've never read before (it's probably a minor prophet) and you don't understand it, but you talked about it with your parents, friend, elder, or watched a Youtube video about it.
Alternative scenario: You've spent the last week listening to rap music and eating off brand twinkies.
TWO HOURS FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: You decide on a new Bible book to read. You send two encouraging messages to some friends. You spend a full ten minutes praying to God.
Alternative scenario: You fall asleep after watching twenty five cat videos.
It's important to think about your future. Jesus told us to consider our spiritual future to be more important than our material one. Our material future is of little consequence in comparison to how we'll spend eternity. We'll live billions of years with the consequences of our spiritual decisions but only about seventy or eighty with the consequences of our material ones. I want to lead you through a thought experiment about your future.
A THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: You're a glorified being with a perfect indestructible body that you love. This is your resurrection body. You spend your days praising God in a beautiful environment far better than even your summer church camp. You're surrounded by quality moral friends who've suffered many of the same struggles you suffered while on earth and you've emerged from the devastation of these trials as triumphant victors over Satan. You feel happy, and you know this feeling of bliss will continue undisturbed for the next billion years. You feel you're living a rewarding and meaningful life. You fought hard against evil for seventy years and you're a veteran of the "war on sin." You're being rewarded for your struggle.
Disastrous scenario: You're suffering in Hell. You're ugly, deformed, and miserable. You wish you'd never been born. You know the next billion years will be just as miserable as the last thousand. You think back on your seventy years of conscious life in the old world (the world we're now in), and you feel like a complete failure. When the righteous people were fighting evil, you were just submitting to it and running away from moral combat. Both your pre death and post death lives have been worse than meaningless.
SIXTY YEARS FROM NOW
The doctor diagnosed you with terminal cancer. You're nearly eighty years old, so you knew it was eventually coming. The doctor says you have three months to live. For the next three months you walk around parks meditating on your life.
Hopeful scenario: You lived a great life. You had three kids who love you, and you raised them to be good Christians who've helped spread the gospel to their neighbors and around the world. One of them is serving as an overseas missionary. You remember when you sacrificed a high paying job to attend church more frequently, and you think about all the good memories you have attending Bible studies and encouraging other Christians to live holy lives. You live in a small inexpensive, albeit nice, home because you refused to put money before God. You think fondly of your spouse and how you fulfilled your vow to live faithfully to them for decades. You think about your never ending war with the world and trying to fight back temptations while influencing society. You think of the sacrifices you made in time, social connections, money, and talents in order to further the Kingdom of God. You fought hard, and now you're imagining the billions of future years you have to enjoy the reward God will give you for being his servant and warrior on earth. Death scares you, but you've lived your whole life knowing death was coming, and you prepared well.
Alternative scenario: You spent too much time chasing money and pleasure. You didn't think much about life. You only had one kid, but you never spent much time with them. You had a lucrative job, but your coworkers didn't think about God and didn't share much in common with you except worldliness. You can't think of anything substantial you've left as a legacy, and you realize people won't remember you for anything meaningful. Your nice house will be sold off, you never had any ideas or values people will fight or live for, and all the memories of personal pleasure will fade from memory after death. You don't know what awaits you after death, but you have a terrible fear the "crazy" religious folks might be right, and you might find yourself suffering for the next billion years in Hell fire. You have no hope, and your life has no lasting value.
TEN YEARS FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: It's your wedding day. You saved yourself for the spouse you'll sleep with tonight. You love them on a deep level and the two of you share so much in common that you feel confident and optimistic about your future. Both of you are Christians who love God and his people. The spiritual direction of your life has already led to purity, faith, and identity. Now, in the form of marriage, you and your spouse are creating a new community. The two of you may not have much money, but you have love that extends beyond desire. You vow to live your lives for the purpose of furthering God's will in the world. You decide to spend a couple years doing mission work in China together.
Alternative scenario: You decided to become a "career person," and you've been promoted at your job, the money is flowing in, but you watch Netflix every night alone in your apartment. You go to the bar sometimes and meet up with some guy or girl you met on Tinder (or some other dating app), and you have a series of shallow relationships with various people that revolve around drinking, clubbing, and watching TV marathons. You don't go to church, you have no community, you have no sense of purpose. The money and cheap relationship are fun but they barely cover your shallow existence. You're ultimately empty inside, but you rarely ever stop to meditate for more than ten minutes. Ultimately, you're wasting your life.
ONE YEAR FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: You've read the whole Bible again. You have numerous questions about it. You're researching and finding answers and deepening your faith. You've firmly established a habit of praying at least twice a day. You've seriously analyzed the talents God's given you, and you've created a plan of action to utilize those talents in the short term, midterm, and long term. You actively encourage your fellow Christians to do the same.
Alternatively: You haven't internalized your faith. The Bible has become a mysterious document, and you're not really sure what's in it. You've lost interest in your long term future (your thousand year future). You just want to have "fun" and live a fast life full of glittery new things. You're wasting your talents and have no intention of using them for the God who gave them to you. You waste four hours a day scrolling Instagram and Facebook.
ONE WEEK FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: You've started a prayer journal. You've read a Bible book you've never read before (it's probably a minor prophet) and you don't understand it, but you talked about it with your parents, friend, elder, or watched a Youtube video about it.
Alternative scenario: You've spent the last week listening to rap music and eating off brand twinkies.
TWO HOURS FROM NOW
Hopeful scenario: You decide on a new Bible book to read. You send two encouraging messages to some friends. You spend a full ten minutes praying to God.
Alternative scenario: You fall asleep after watching twenty five cat videos.