Scriptures Contrast Temporal vs Eternal

 Scriptures Contrast Temporal vs Eternal

Matthew 16:24-27

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (25) For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. (26) For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (27) For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works."

Ecclesiastes 1:2-4

"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever."

Job 14:1-2

"Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. He comes forth like a flower and fades away; he flees like a shadow and does not continue."

Psalm 90:10

"The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."

Isaiah 40:6-8

"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."

James 4:14

"For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away."

I John 2:17

"And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

Our Savior is trying to explain the relative values of our physical lives and what we can humanly accomplish to what awaits us in what is commonly called the afterlife. In short, there is no comparison!

The Bible is consistent on the total lack of value of human life apart from God. When man deletes the Living and Eternal God from himself, he utterly devalues his life -- not only for time but especially for eternity.

May He help us to open our eyes to behold the wonder of the life He sets before us so we can appropriate His presence and power into our temporal existence and attain the glorious prize Jesus purchased for us on Calvary.