The rope illustration

The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people.
Isaiah 40:7 NLT

Some things are certain in this life. Whether we realize it or not, we’re in our mortal bodies for only a very short time. Young people don’t seem to think they’ll ever grow old but now that I've reached my golden years, my body keeps reminding me that I can't do what I used to do.

As I’ve grown older, I’ve also noticed that time seems to be speeding up. I suppose this is partly because I now realize there are many things that I wanted to do that I might never get around to doing.

Now that I realize how short life really is, especially compared to eternity, I wish that I had spent my time during my younger years more wisely. After all, I only have a certain number of days to serve the Lord and do His will before I meet Him face-to-face. As children of God, we only have a brief moment in time to earn our eternal rewards which we’ll enjoy forever.

Everything we do on this side of eternity brings either an eternal reward or an eternal regret.

I love this 5-minute video from Pastor Francis Chan which drives home the point that we need to keep our focus on eternity instead of just focusing on doing the things that make us more comfortable in this life.