Nothing But a Blip!

“A blip!” Your watching a radar screen and then you see it but only for a second and then it’s gone; “a blip!” Now imagine if you will that blip is what your life here on earth is like; “nothing but a blip” that lasts for no more than a second. But the radar screen what does it represent? Eternity.

Your life here on earth in comparison to where you will live out eternity is this; nothing but a blip. Watch it; a blip is pretty short lived isn’t it? No wonder Paul could say with all assurity even in the midst of suffering:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Do you like Paul have an eternal mentality? Are you looking at your life here on earth as but a moment in comparison to where you will spend your days eternally? The prophet Isaiah said:

“All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

Are not our very lives but as a flower or the grass of the fields? Here today yet gone tomorrow? Nothing but a “blip! on a radar screen? But… how we live it, yes, how we live it will determine everything.

We must have the mindset of Paul; eternal thinking. But for our light affliction. Are you suffering? Are you struggling? But for our light affliction. Your life here is only temporary. You are only sorjourning to a final destination. Yes, how you live it will determine everything.

For you have been born again. Your new life did not come from your earthly parents because the life they gave you will end in death. But this new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God. (1 Peter 1:23)

If you have received Christ as your personal Savior, if you have been born again, then your new life has already begun.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:2-3)

Yes, eternal thinking; “our life on earth is nothing but a blip!” Why then should we worry about it? Why then should we live only to please it; our flesh? It is nothing but a blip. Rather, should we not live our lives to glorify our Father in heaven? Run the race as if to win it? Pass every test our enemy, Satan throws at us? Then great will your reward be in Heaven (Luke 6:20-23). For then we will get to spend all of eternity with the only one who truly completes us; Jesus. Yes, Jesus.

All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in his mighty power, will protect you until you receive this salvation, because you are trusting him. It will be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead , even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while.

These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day that Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with a glorious, inexpressible joy. Your reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1: 3-9)

“A blip! Nothing but a blip!” So pass the test and run to win!

Are you in the middle of a wasteland?

There are times in our walks that everything seems to be going just fine. We are at ease, our minds at peace. Than there are other times. Times when it is all we can do to force ourselves into His Word or find the time to pray. These are the dry times. The times when we find ourselves in a parched and barren wasteland. We cry out, “I am so thirsty!” yet still, nothing seems to satisfy. We read. We look. But all the things we search for, even when and if we do find them they are still not enough.

Why does God allow this, these times when we find ourselves in the middle of a desert? Here it seems even God is absent and perhaps He is. Will we still trust Him? Will we still believe? Will we still continue to trudge along, yet still so thirsty? Or, will we abandon? Will we turn our attentions? “It is nothing but a mirage,” the Lord says and for a moment we think, yes, we hear Him! “But it looks like a place I can rest, Lord, with pools of water.” And again, “it is only a mirage,” He says.

Will we listen when we are in the middle of a wasteland? Did the Children of Israel when God led them round and round the wilderness for forty years? Did they listen when they were lost? Or did they turn their attentions? Building golden cows to save them?

There is always a reason for the wasteland. Perhaps when it is we find ourselves there that we find what we are really made of. Will we still turn to God? Will we still pledge our allegiance to Him and Him alone? Or, will we like the Children of Israel build our golden cows, allowing nothing but a mirage to snare our wayward hearts and drag us elsewhere?

If you are in the middle of a wasteland, hold on. Keep your eyes and heart steadfast on Him and He alone will lead you out.