Enjoying Earthly Blessings While Living with an Eternal Focus
Playing Parcheesi while eating hot bean-and-cheese sandwiches is something Mama enjoyed growing up. Grandma usually won, and she was so familiar with the game that she could have gotten around the board without counting off the individual spaces.
It’s no wonder Mama is also that good at Parcheesi. When we started playing as young children, we had to count the spaces individually. But it was fun moving the pawns one space at a time as if it were someone walking.
No matter how we got our playing pieces around the board, our ultimate goal was to get all four pawns into their eternal home. (I say “eternal home” because the starting section is also often referred to as “home” throughout the game. But the space at the end of the game that is actually labeled “home” is a safe place where the pawns “dwell eternally”.)
Each player’s roll of the dice is calculated to make the best move. (Yes, we have all gotten much more experience and improved our playing skills.) Everything we do comes out of our focus on winning the game.
That’s our main goal. That’s our overriding focus. Everyone wants to win! But even so, that doesn’t mean we should try to keep from feeling satisfaction when we make a good move, breathing a sigh of relief when the blockade is finally out of the way, excitedly using extra points, or happily resting on a safe space.
All of these are real aspects of the game. In fact, they make it fun to play. They bring surprises, and make it better. Is it positive to like landing on a safe space? Of course it is! Does that mean you’ve lost your focus on winning? No! Not a bit.
Now let me ask you this: Is it positive to like the house, family, friends, and all that God has blessed you with? Of course it is! Does appreciating God’s blessings mean that you’ve lost your eternal focus? No! Not a bit.
It is easy to picture that having an eternally focused life means you have to run a summer camp, do street preaching on weekends, and be the president of a growing non-profit organization that reaches people with the gospel. But it’s more about what your ultimate posture is.
Rather, having an eternal focus is much like having a constant focus on winning Parcheesi. That’s our main goal. That’s our overriding focus. Every Christian looks forward to Heaven and wants others to be won to Jesus. But even so, that doesn’t mean we should try to keep from enjoying God’s blessings and living life abundantly. So while you are “about your Father’s business” by handing out tracts, remember to also enjoy the various blessings He has allowed you to have and experience.
While I was giving out 250th tracts, a man came over and asked, “Can I have two of those?”
As I handed them to him, he commented, “Oh, wow, they’re each different.” He gladly took them and went back into the shop he had come from.
A minute later he came back and said, “Could I have the one with both [Adams & Jefferson]?” I said, “Absolutely!” He hesitated and then took it, saying, “My sons will love these!”We chatted a bit, and he gave some tips of where the best and busiest places were to give those tracts that evening. What an amazing God-given interaction!
Please pray for his and his sons’ salvation and that they would be drawn close to the Lord.
~ David