- 1 Timothy 6:17-19 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hopes in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Even if the present is good, if the end result is not good, there is no hope for the future.
The present life decides the end result; your ‘eternal life’ is decided by the end result, and that life will continue on. Therefore, no matter how great the present is, if the end result is not good, you should not do that. With human beings, the end result of their lives are decided by the way they have lived and the things they have done. God decides ‘the end result of the soul and spirit’ based on the end result of that person’s life.
Even if your present is arduous, your end result must be good. Only then will you live with joy because you have hope for the future. No matter how great the present is, if the end result is bad, why would people live investing their lives on that? It is because they live while thinking only about the present. If you live thinking only about the present, what is your hope? The end result is decided by the present. So do you intend to waste your life on that just because you are comfortable in the present?
The Holy Spirit said: “You should live today, but you should live [today] while thinking about tomorrow. You should live the present but you should live [the present] while thinking about the future and the end result. You have to receive everything both in the present and at the end result. Both today’s life-the life of the present is yours, and tomorrow’s life-the end result-life is also yours.”
If, just because the present is comfortable and good for now, you live only in a way that is comfortable for you and as you like, then at the end result, you must live while floundering in suffering. On the other hand, even if the present is difficult, if you live ‘a perfect life and a life that is for the future,’ even though your present may be difficult, as a result of that, you will live your life gaining and enjoying in the present and you will also live with joy gaining and enjoying at the end result as well as a result of that life. In the present you have to live enduring, overcoming, and live righteously. Only then will ‘a life of hope and a life of joy’ come to you at the end result. Those who live only lives that center on themselves, lives that satisfy them, and lives that excite them, and live only lives of realism seeing, hearing, and taking action on the opposite sex, material wealth, recreation, and various other corrupted cultures of the world will surely live ‘lives devoid of hope’ in the future.
This is the law of life; the law of daily living. If, in the present, you pursue ‘the eternal Will of God,’ and continue ‘the perfect life’ while fixing yourself even if it is hard, that life will become ‘a shortcut to the future’ and all of that will return to you as ‘blessings.’ By doing so, in the future, you will surely live ‘a life of blessings.’
In the present, even if it is hard, you must cultivate the land, sow the seeds, and keep tending it. If you continue to do it, the trees will grow. If you keep taking care of them, the flowers will bloom and the fruit will grow bigger and bigger. Once the fruits are completely grown, you will live ‘an ideal life’ in the end while harvesting and eating them. Everything you do in life is like this. Eternal life is like this too. If, in the present, you only eat and enjoy physically, think only about the things of the body and live only for the body, and you avoid difficult things and live only comfortably, it is a life in which you neither sow seeds for the future nor develop [the future]. If you keep going that way, in the end, a ‘a chaotic life’ will come to you and ‘a life of going to and living in a desert’ will come upon you.
It is to ‘make yourself by developing yourself’ in the present. It is to live ‘a life of fixing yourself completely.’ The end result is decided by the life you live in the present; the life of your soul and spirit is decided by the end result and thus, whether your spirit will go to ‘Hell’ or go to ‘Heaven’ will be decided by that and you will live that life continually and eternally. That is why I am telling you to build up righteousness in the present for the end result, and walk the path of life even if the present is difficult. When you look at people who live only by realism and live the way they want while eating, enjoying and investing only in physical things, you will think, “I want to live like that too – enjoying and being comfortable.’ It is because people focus more on ‘things that are visible to their eyes right now.’ Even if things are difficult in the present, you have to live 100% according to ‘God’s Will.’ If you do, your future life will surely be determined to be an eternal life, a life of joy, and a life of reaping and you will live with joy while enjoying it forever.
The Holy Spirit said: “Those who live counting only the present joy and satisfaction of the body have no future. Why do you give up on the future by failing to calculate [correctly] and thus try to follow those who live only for the present? Do not ever follow those who give up on their future life and are living only for the present joy and satisfaction of the body because of their ignorance. The Almighty God gives you wisdom and intelligence and lets you open your eyes so that you will see the right things. So discern and judge correctly.”
The future will come upon everyone no matter who they are. This future is decided by ‘the present life.’ A life that is only for the present is ‘a life that is like a flower.’ A life that is for the future is ‘a life that is like a fruit.’ Flowers will eventually wither and fruit will be harvested and eaten. No matter how comfortable and fancy the present may be, if there is no future, it means that you have failed at life and you have lived your life incorrectly. No matter how comfortable and fancy the life of the body is, if your spirit’s life of the future is not guaranteed, it means that you have lived your life incorrectly. ‘Life’ is something that cannot be irreversible again you decide on it and live it.
Do not follow the words of those people who say that “You should enjoy only the things of the body and live this way.” I urge you to live for the hope and vision of the future. Those efforts and hard work are surely effort and hard work in which you will surely gain. Since you are living for the future hope and vision, strength, power, and joy spring up from that. It is with that strength that you move toward the future.