Tag Archive for: Essays

One Hundred Billion Eternities

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… And we’re back!

Whoever you are and wherever you’ve been, we hope you had an outstanding Feast of Tabernacles and Last Great Day this year. We hope you “caught the vision” and deepened your appreciation for the amazing plan that God will soon bring to fulfillment. The understanding of God’s Holy Days is a blessing that so very few in human history have been given, and the more we value it, the better we grasp the “big picture” of Christ’s return and the soon-coming eternal Kingdom of God. 

But whoever you are, when you’re young, even the “small picture” seems enormous. Learning to drive a car is terrifying when you’ve previously only driven—and crashed—a Mario Kart. Getting married is mind-breakingly immense when the whole of your existence has been not married. Let’s be realistic here: Young adults doing their best to meaningfully visualize eternity will probably be about as successful as preschoolers trying to ponder the theory of relativity, and I say that as a young adult.

God reminds us to “seek first” His kingdom (Matthew 6:33), and He does that because, let’s face it, we’re going to forget. This might apply even more when you’re young, because as a teenager or young adult, it’s difficult to focus your life on the Kingdom of God while also… you know, managing all the really important earthly milestones young people naturally have to deal with. Because you have to finish school. You have to get a job. You’d really, really like to marry someone and have children, and then you have to make sure you don’t neglect that spouse or those children. And in the midst of all of this, you have to remember how temporary everything is—even though right now it’s legitimately important—so you have to keep talking to God. You have to keep pondering His ways and commands. You have to keep fasting, you have to keep spending time with the Bible, you have to keep examining yourself.

That really is a big picture, and it’s legitimately difficult to keep up with everything. But it’s also a tiny picture—because it’s only about you. While you’re trying really hard not to make a physical mess of your life, and doing your best not to make a spiritual mess of it either, it can be all too easy to miss the fact that you’re just one person. Yes, God cares so very deeply about you, and you should never, ever forget that—but even your eternity is just one eternity. 

You know what’s bigger than an eternity? Read the title again.

According to that nifty little internet we’re all using these days, it’s estimated that around 100 billion people have lived on Earth up to this point. And hey, you’re one of them! Congratulations. That means the Kingdom of God is 0.000000001 percent about you. That’s how big a part of the picture your one eternity is.

As we’re annually reminded on the Last Great Day, the world needs God’s Kingdom. It’s about so much more than your personal salvation or mine, and it’s even about so much more than the collective saints of God being transformed in the first resurrection. It’s about rescuing everyone in the entire history of the world. It’s about redeeming not just our time, but the whole of time itself. It’s about one hundred billion eternities.

That’s a big picture. And if our first thought of God’s Kingdom is usually “Oh boy, I sure hope I make it there,” we’re forgetting 99.999999999 percent of that picture. 

We should never stop striving to enter God’s Family, because that’s literally the entire point of human existence (Ecclesiastes 12:13), but when we’re trying to think of the big picture, let’s at least remind ourselves that the vast majority of that picture isn’t about us—and let’s thank God for the fact that, regardless of any one of us, His Kingdom will come, creating an unfathomably joyful universe of one hundred billion eternities.

What We’ll Never Regret

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Much of this world sees commitment as extremely dangerous. And for the most part, it’s not wrong about that. Commitment is dangerous—just ask anyone who ever shelled out cash for tattoo removal. The Scriptures actually warn against throwing promises around—even ones with the purest intentions—because we humans are neither omnipotent nor omniscient, and might very well realize later that a commitment we made was unnecessary, foolish, or even sinful (Matthew 5:33-37; James 5:12). 

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Something for the Ladies…

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We don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Living Church News occasionally publishes a feature called “Woman to Woman.” Written by a woman in God’s Church, it is meant to help fulfill Paul’s admonition to older or more experienced ladies, recorded in Titus 2:4–5, that they pass down wisdom in godly femininity and womanhood to younger ladies in the Church. As a sample, we hope you’ll consider reading the recent contribution from Mrs. Janth B. English, linked to below, titled “‘Submission’ Is Not a Dirty Word.” It definitely runs counter to the advice about being a woman you will get from many popular “authorities” these days, but it is rooted in the loving advice of your Creator who wants you to become the sort of woman He designed you to be.

We hope you’ll give it a read! Here’s the link: “‘Submission’ Is Not a Dirty Word.”

A Proper Gander at Propaganda

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As you can probably tell, the world is getting really political. And the more political it gets, the more people throw around the word propaganda. But not very many people are bothering to actually define that word—and, as Mr. Sandor recently said, definitions are important. 

So, what even is propaganda? Well, the most recent issue of the Living Church News just so happens to have an article by Mr. Paul Kearns on that very subject. Mr. Kearns goes into what propaganda is and, more importantly, who’s really behind all the propaganda out there.

Intrigued? Just click the link below to be instantly transported to Mr. Kearns’ article through the mysterious power of the internets (which seems to run on some form of electricity).

A Couple of Tips on Meditation

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Here’s a basic question for you: How do you draw close to God? 

If you’ve heard that one before, you might know some of the answers. The Church of God helpfully focuses on four big actions we can take to draw close to God: Christians can pray, study their Bibles, fast, and meditate.

It can be a little tricky to start doing these things regularly. Thankfully, the Church provides plenty of help on how to get the most out of prayer, study, fasting, and meditation. When I tried to start doing these activities regularly, it was a slow process, but I gradually felt myself get better at prayer, study, and fasting. Little by little, I felt like I was getting more out of these things. Some days were better or worse than others, but generally, these practices seemed to be going in the right direction in my life. 

Meditation was different—I rarely felt like I was getting much better at it. I knew the basics: think about a godly concept deeply. True meditation is not emptying one’s mind, as some religions teach. Philippians 4:8 tells us that “whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” That’s a great list, but what does it mean practically? How exactly are we supposed to think deeply about those things?

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Thinking Biblically: Definitions

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When I think about what it means to “think biblically,” I usually think, “How do I look at situations with the Bible as my guide?” And that’s fine! Most of the content on this website takes that approach: “How do we think biblically about entertainment? About dating? About current events?” 

But sometimes we also have to think biblically about something much more basic, like the definition of words. This might seem too simple, but you would be surprised by how many contentions spring from people not even agreeing on how words are defined. 

“Come on, Mr. Sandor,” you might think, “we know what dictionaries are. They give the same words and definitions to all of us.” Well, you have a point—to a degree. While dictionaries give us the opportunity to uniformly define words, it’s still not uncommon for people to just ignore dictionaries and use whatever definitions they have in their heads. 

But there’s a bigger problem: Dictionaries don’t use the Bible to define words. The Bible provides definitions for sin (1 John 3:4), righteousness, (Psalm 119:172), faith (Hebrews 11:1, 6), and a host of other words—and these definitions are different from what you’ll find when you google a word (or dig out a hardcopy dictionary). 

For this post, let’s briefly consider the word love. How should we define that? Well, if you’re still reading, you’re about to get some answers. 

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Using Thankfulness as a “Life Hack”

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Reflecting this past week on the importance of gratitude and having an attitude of thankfulness brought this old TW article to mind from about a year and a half ago. It’s a short read, and in it, Mr. John Robinson notes how researchers have discovered that actively cultivating a grateful outlook produces a better, happier life—and notes, too, how the Bible was already giving this advice thousands of years ago. So, if you’re looking for a good “life hack,” you should consider actively seeking to increase your level of thankfulness.

Don’t take our word for it: Read the article! It might be a quick read, but the advice has long-lasting effects for those who will take it to heart. It’s one click away, in the link below.