You Only Live Once

I'm sure that many of us have heard the saying, "you only live once". This statement is designed to reinforce the sentiment that since you only have one life to live and you "only go around once", that you ought to take advantage of it and live life to the fullest and do the things that will make you happy and allow you to enjoy life. This is where the concept of having a "bucket list" and fulfilling certain life-long dreams comes from. The only fallacy in this perspective is that it is not true. The truth of the matter is that you don't just Live Once. There is an After-Life to the life that we live on this earth. The reason why it's important to conceptualize this reality is because the "Second Life" that we live after this first one is going to last a "whole lot longer" than the one we're living now. Therefore, it would behoove us to develop a proper perspective thereof.

This misunderstanding of "you only live once" is affecting detrimentally the witness of many Christians. A lot of us as believers have bought in to this temporal and finite thinking. We too, go about life with the mind-set that "this is it". We too approach our lives with the misunderstanding that makes us feel we have to make the most out of our situation from a material and circumstantial standpoint. If we embraced the teaching and mind-set that Jesus used regarding life, we would think totally different. As believers in Christ, we do not need to be living for what we can get out of "this life", we need to be living for what we can get out of the life to come. Let me say it again. We don't need to be living for what we can get out of this life, we need to be living for what we can get out of the Life to Come.

When we die, all human beings (saved and unsaved) have an Eternal Destiny. God is an Eternal Spirit (John 4), and since He made man in His Image and after His Likeness, we too are eternal spirits (Genesis 1). With this in mind, there is an "eternal life" or for some, an eternal existence, that awaits every human being that's ever existed on this planet. What the Christian needs to understand is that there is an Eternal Destiny that God has already ordained for us as His children. But the challenge is, your ability to "inherit" and receive that Destiny is contingent upon how you handle the temporal probationary period God has given us while we're here on earth.

Peter asked Jesus one day what the disciples would receive for the sacrifices they had made to follow Him. Jesus responded, "Assuredly I say to you...you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19, NKJV). Jesus was describing to them the role they would play in the After-Life. When Jesus was being tried by Pilate, His response to him was, "Hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power" (Matthew 26). Jesus was describing His Eternal Destiny as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Saints, don't get caught up in the here and now. Yes, we have to live "in" today, but that doesn't mean we have to live "for" today. Let the Holy Spirit prepare you for the crown that Jesus has already set aside for you (Revelation 3). Make the choices today that will allow you to reign with Him in His Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20). For the truth of the matter is, you will live more than once.