Where there is No future

Where There Is NO Future

After highlighting the godlessness of the things of the world, John then exposes their futility: "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever" (1 John 2:17 NIV). The verse is clear: these things don't last. They pass away.

My friend, I don't want you to waste your life pursuing things that won't last. I don't want you to have what John Owens describes as "living affections to dying things."12

There's no future in worldliness. None. This world is temporary and superficial, and it doesn't satisfy. Oh, I know, the world sparkles, the world dazzles. I know because I've been there. I immersed myself in the world. I passionately pursued everything it had to offer. And what did I discover? It didn't deliver as advertised. It deceived me. What it did deliver were unadvertised consequences I wasn't informed of and didn't anticipate. For sin carries with it the seeds of dissatisfaction and destruction.

The things of this world - when compared to pleasing God and eternal life, when informed by an eternal perspective - will be exposed as being worthless. But there is a future in godliness, and for all who do the will of God. They, by contrast, will live forever.

What Matters Most

How about you? Which will you choose? Will you pursue the deceptive, temporary pleasures of worldliness? Or do the will of God, which contains the promise of eternal life?