If you’re like me, it’s easy to lose sight of what truly matters. We easily become distracted by lesser things and miss the forest for the trees. We especially struggle with this in church life by becoming shortsighted. Instead of having an eternal perspective, we often focus on the minutiae of life. We know we’re struggling with a biblical perspective when we focus more on our preferences, feelings, and worldly measures of success than God’s bigger picture. The reality is, our goals are often not God’s goals, and our timing sure isn’t God’s timing. In order for our churches to be faithful to God’s calling, we must have an eternal perspective.
An eternal perspective keeps us focused on what truly matters. It guards us against becoming polarized over budgetary issues, styles of worship, or differences in committee meetings. Instead, churches with an eternal perspective recognize the brevity of life and the importance of God’s great mission. Christians don’t have time to waste on things that don’t bear eternal significance. God has called his people to live for his glory, proclaim the Gospel, and build his kingdom. While the particulars of church life have their proper place, they mean nothing if we’ve lost our overall purpose. Having an eternal perspective means living more for heaven than for this life. Rather than receiving accolades today, an eternal perspective leads us to praising Christ tomorrow. An eternal perspective puts away worldly foolishness and puts on God’s wisdom of purposeful living. We must be churches fully convinced of God’s mission of kingdom work. In order to faithfully pursue kingdom work, we must have an eternal perspective.
Just as our churches need an eternal perspective, so too does our denomination. As the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, we have an important responsibility to not lose sight of what God has called us to. While there are certainly issues that need to be discussed next month in Anaheim, we must never lose sight of what God’s called us to. The convention is not about tribalism. It’s not about preferences, worldly standards of success, or some notion of winning. Like our churches, the SBC must be focused on partnering in Gospel work for the glory of God alone. We must zealously leave behind pragmatism, cultural appeasement, and political games in favor of magnifying Christ with our hearts, words, and actions.
Ultimately, this life will quickly be gone and all that will matter is what we did with Christ. What will matter on the day of judgment is whether we have faithfully followed Scripture and committed ourselves “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8) While the clarion call might by strong to focus on particulars, Christian, don’t forget the big picture. Don’t lose sight of God’s purpose for his church and the SBC. Let’s have an eternal perspective that majors on preparing for heaven. Let’s be known for the Christ we exalt and the faith we believe. Let’s serve God’s kingdom in our churches and denomination and do it all for the glory of God.