As we get older, time seems to fly by. Years feel like months; months feel like weeks. What accounts for this? We can remember, as small children, time seemed to almost stand still. It seemed that birthdays, Christmas, the end of the school year, would never arrive. Was it just anticipation or was there something else going on?

If we think about time as it relates to our life experiences, we can see an explanation for this different perspective on time between young and old. A 10 year old child is likely only conscious of the past 5 or 6 years of their lives. As a percentage of their total life experience, 1 year seems quite long. It is 17 to 20 percent of their entire conscious memory. A 40 year old adult, on the other hand, sees a year as only 2.5 percent of their total life experience. Our concept of time is affected by our frame of reference.

Our frame of reference does not only affect our perception of time. It can, in fact, affect our perception of our entire life. Western culture, in recent generations, has focused on living for the moment; on getting everything out of life that we can. We try to make lots of money so that we can buy lots of things; things that are supposed to bring us joy. We save for retirement so that we can enjoy 20 years of leisure after our working life is over. We chase after all forms of pleasure in the mean time; wild living, ”partying”, drugs, alcohol, lust, greed, etc. We are absorbed with pleasuring ourselves in any way imaginable. It has become engrained in our culture that college students should live wildly before they take on the responsibilities of adulthood; a ”right of passage” we have labeled this behavior. We idolize youth and frivolity; discouraging any taking of responsibility; viewing it as a burden to be postponed as long as possible. ”If it feels good, do it!” ”You only live once!”

You only live once. That’s what we tell ourselves. We focus so much on this life, as though it truly is the only life we have. If we did not believe this, how would we be able to justify such reckless, irresponsible, and, indeed, immoral behavior?

Even those who claim to believe in an afterlife still greedily crave the temptations of this world. It’s as if they believe that whatever the afterlife has to offer, it certainly couldn’t be as good as the things this life has to offer. Or perhaps, its like a businessman on an out-of-town trip; doing things he would never dare do at home for fear that he’d be found out. Perhaps those that do believe in an afterlife are concerned that they won’t be able to enjoy the same sins there as they can in this life.

Whether we believe in an afterlife or not, we seem to focus all of our attention on this life. Sure, we may take some time to occasionally think about what may lie beyond this life, but our attention quickly turns back to the things we deal with every day.

We focus on our careers, on making money, on buying things, on chasing after the pleasures that we are most attached to. We trouble ourselves with the dramas of life; with arguments, with impatience, with grudges, with worries. We wrap ourselves up in these petty things because, if we believe that this is the only life that matters, then these annoyances of life matter a great deal.

But what if there’s more? What if there is a life after this one? What if its much longer? And what if that life is the one that really matters, and this one is only a warm-up? What if this life is the batting practice before the big game?

What if this life is all about the next life?

What if all the things we fill our lives with: money, power, lust, materialism; what if those things are meant to distract us from the things that really matter? Its ironic; the things that we can’t take with us are the things we obsess about specifically because we can’t take them with us. How much stress, grief, conflict, angst, and unwanted consequences do we put ourselves through because we live like there is no tomorrow? But tomorrow always comes, in this life and the next. There are always consequences, in this life and the next.

So what should we be focused on? What are the things that we carry with us beyond this life? The Bible begins to tell us in Matthew 6:19-21:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

This is an interesting passage. We’ve certainly seen in recent months how the treasures we store up on earth can easily be destroyed or taken away from us. Jobs, investments, homes, retirement accounts; we’ve seen how even the things, we thought were the most secure, can be gone in an instant.

This passage also tells us about where our heart is. If we care about worldly things then that is what we will focus on. When these things come under threat, whether they are possessions or a way of living, we jealously guard them. We want more possessions, we want a promotion, we don’t want to hear anyone telling us we should stop living the lifestyle we’re living. These are the things that enslave our hearts.

Romans 6:16 speaks of this:

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

So, what are the things that help us lay up treasures in heaven? The Bible gives us many examples:

1 Timothy 6:18-19 (instructions to those with money in this life):

Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.

Again, talking about how money should not control our lives and priorities, 1 Timothy 6:11:

But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness.

In Galatians 5:19-25, The Bible speaks of ”deeds of the flesh” and the ”fruit of the Spirit”, so that we can know the difference:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

But why is it important to focus our attention away from the desires of this life and toward a life beyond? The Bible tells us in Matthew 4:17:

From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ”Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Again, with some irony, the reason we live for today is the very reason we should not live only for today. We feel that we need to squeeze into this life as much as we can before we die. But it is because we may die at any time, that we need to be prepared for the life to come. Instead, we live like an irresponsible college student; drinking and carousing the night before final exams rather than studying. He arrives to class the next day with a sudden awareness that he is ill-prepared for the experience he is about to face. The situation is made much worse when he realizes the consequences of his lack of preparation. All of a sudden, his lust for the pleasures of life do not seem like a good choice. The fleeting pleasures of a night of indulgence quickly vanishes as he faces the ominous reality of his situation. Regret and disillusionment quickly set upon him.

So it is for us at the end of our lives when we realize that we do all live on beyond this life; the only issue we face is, where do we spend our next life? Despite our efforts to ignore this inevitability, it arrives for all of us. Mortality has a way of sneaking up on us. We live as though there is no tomorrow yet we relegate thoughts of the next life until much later. We feel that we’ll always have time to address these issue, but for the moment we won’t let them distract us from our reveling. Sadly, whether its a car accident, a heart attack, a random act of violence; mortality has a way of not keeping to our schedule. Life may not afford us the death-bed conversion we were counting on.

Given the consequences of what may be in store for us beyond this life; how is it that we spend so little time concerning ourselves with these things? We spend more of our energy and attention on office politics, personal squabbles, celebrity gossip, and obsessive materialism than we do about the things that last far beyond this life. Are we prepared for the next life?

Hebrews 9:27:

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

God promises that we will all be judged for our actions.

Romans 3:10-12:

as it is written, ”There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

Matthew 13:40-42:

Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We will live on beyond this life. The question is will we spend our next life in God’s kingdom or in an unquenchable fire? Isn’t this something we should be focused on if there is even the slightest chance that it may be true? Do we really want to get to the end our life, our final exam, only to discover that we were too busy carousing to have done any studying?

Why are we here? What is our life all about? Is it really just a collection of experiences that we try to squeeze in before we die? Really? In your quiet moments, do you really feel that that is why we’re here; or is there more?

We are here to accept, through God’s Holy Spirit, the gift of forgiveness that Jesus purchased for us; so that when we stand before God and account for our lives, we can claim that forgiveness as payment for our sins. If we do not have Jesus, then we must pay the penalty for our sins ourselves; and there is an eternal prison where this sentence is carried out. A prison of eternal evil where no good is available to relieve us.

We take this faith, given by God through His Holy Spirit, with us to the next life. We take with us those we’ve shared God’s good news with. These are the things that live on beyond this life; not the possessions or the money or the sinful pleasures of this world. Those things stay in this world, but we move on. Have we prepared? Have we studied enough? Will we face this examination with confidence or trepidation?

John 14:2-6:

”In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, ”Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, ”I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”