God rules in infinite dominion over mighty angels, innumerable galaxies, and all members of humanity. His reign transcends every power of human or angelic intellect, and every atom of creation is pregnant with His immanent authority. He is hidden from our sight by unmatched splendor and made intimately known to us through the person of Christ. Archangels and demons and all of creation flee in terror from His face, and He tells us to draw close to Him in fellowship. His word calls forth all things ex nihilo, and His gentle whisper speaks comfort to our hearts in times of trial. He has made us His children by the blood and death of Heaven’s Prince, Christ.
We wake up every morning and go about our day mechanically. We drive our cars, study, microwave our meals, work long tedious hours, enjoy naps on the weekends and hope that our favorite team carries a pigskin across a field more often than the other team. Our lives are unspectacular and mundane. We hardly live as if we are the servants of the King of the universe, much less His sons and daughters. Yet we are His children. How do we bridge this gap between our seemingly unremarkable lives and the truths that we believe about our relationship to God? By understanding that eternity does not begin at our deaths – eternity begins now.
In his essay “The Weight of Glory,” C. S. Lewis once brought the reality of eternity to bear on everyday life: “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
Immortal people with eternal souls – even before we came to Christ in repentance that is what we were as human beings. With such a momentous pedigree, every action we make has immortal consequence. If the mundane life of a non-believer has more impact on eternity than the world around him or her which will one day pass away, how much more the “mundane” lives of believers?
Believers may be living in exile, but they are no less royal and set apart. Even the pots and pans in the homes of believers are said to be holy to God (Zechariah 14:21). When you, Christian, wake in the morning, you wake as a member of the royal family. You brush your teeth, dress, drive to work, clock in, and clock out, all as a child of the infinite Creator God. Every washed-in-the-blood-of-Christ move you make, as inconsequential as it may seem to you, holds captive an audience of attentive angels – to the glory or dishonor of God.
With every new day come new opportunities to live with an eternal mindset. We must live as a people who are dead to sin, alive to God, and singularly focused on conforming to the pattern of Christ, with each of our individual lives shining as a city on a hill, a beacon of truth to a world wandering in sin’s deception.
