Built To Last

This world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

1 John 2:17

THE WORD PERMANENT is a term used less and less in today’s vernacular. Finances, families, moral values, religions—in recent times, these areas have seemingly lost the ability to remain stable.

In reality, nothing on this earth is really permanent in the true meaning of the word, and it never was, even in past centuries. That’s because “this world is fading away” and will one day come to an end. Obviously this applies to our physical possessions. Televisions and cars aren’t permanent. Phones and computers need to be replaced every few years just to stay up-to-date with technology. Even our houses and government buildings will eventually crumble and fall as the years give way to centuries.

The same is true for our greatest accomplishments on earth. Graduate degrees don’t open the same doors they used to. Job promotions certainly don’t last forever (nor do the jobs themselves, come to think of it). Even many of the memories we hold on to will be forgotten in the fog of years.

Don’t let these realities depress you, however, because the wonderful promise of 1 John 2:17 is that people are different. Human beings are created with souls, and those souls will exist long after our physical deaths. Our souls are permanent, and so is the Kingdom that God is preparing. Therefore the primary message of this verse is that our lives—what we do and who we become when we follow God closely, when we please him—are the only things that will last for eternity.