“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life” John 5:24
Maybe you can relate to this hypothetical and yet high possibility life scenario. There you are, a follower of Jesus, and as such, you want to make decisions that are in keeping with the phrase, “What would Jesus do?” So you do your best to avoid lying, cheating, and stealing. You live life with integrity, especially focusing on these big three.
Then – after you are a bit satisfied – you look around and see some of your friends, some of your family or some of your work associates who don’t know God. In fact, they could care less about doing the right and equitable thing. They not only deny God, but they openly speak against Him. But the crazy part is, they seem to be blessed on all fronts and every area of life. I am sure you know what I mean. They’re healthy. They’re wealthy. They don’t have a care in the world. They seem completely satisfied. While that appears to be going on in their life, you find yourself suffering with health, money, or a hundred other things. It sure doesn’t seem fair, does it?
The Bible speaks to this very issue in Psalm 73. The writer finds himself in the same boat as you and me. He’s observing the same things that you and I see. But he has a change of attitude. The change is found here. Psalm 73:16-17 “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply until I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”
WOW, what an incredible thought. What devastation without Christ. There’s a discipline that you and I should incorporate into our lives. A great phrase is, “It’s time to play the long game.” It is avoiding looking only at today, only at this specific moment in time. It’s looking at life through the lenses of eternity not through the lens of “what’s in it for me?”
The writer of Psalm 73 came into the sanctuary of God, (the presence of God) and gained God‘s perspective. If others don’t have a relationship with God, their eternity will be lost and completely bad, but you as a follower of Christ will have an incredibly blessed eternity which will not only be good – but will be fantastic. In fact, it will be beyond our imagination.
So when you find yourself jealous and envious of others, remember to ask this question: “Am I playing the long game or the short game?”
Final food for thought – The Lord is not only outside of eternity, space and everything created – He chose to enter in and participate in it – which gives us all these blessings.
(this idea and a great deal of the content was adapted from a dear friend – Bob Lehman)