When You Feel Stuck, Ask Yourself This Question

Your life on this planet is a dot on a paper so tiny you would need an electron microscope just to see it. But the line representing eternity never ends. 

But your soul was created for eternity, not the dot. God never meant for your life to be 70-80 years and then dust. This is why even atheists are helplessly hungry for meaning, looking for it in mysticism and why the Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard, had to ask his students to not commit suicide. 

Imagine a soul meant for eternity stuck in a body that is lucky if it operates for nine decades. It’s horrifying. 

Yet we often live on earth as if this life was it! Yes, that’s how the world thinks, but not once did Jesus let Himself believe this lie while on earth. This life is a blip on the screen, a hyphen on a tombstone. 

When we invest all our time and effort into this life, ignoring the coming reality that death will greet us sooner than we like, and then our soul exists forever, we sow the seeds of deep pain and disappointment. You don’t have to be that guy who one million years from now regrets that he spent his entire earthly existence saving up for a life he would soon leave. 

This is mind-blowing: the vast majority of your existence is going to be with Jesus in the new heavens and the new earth.

Some will object, “He’s so heavenly minded he’s of no earthly use.” This is a silly statement. The more eternity-focused we are the more it will motivate us to make wise decisions today. And those decisions bless not only today but for all eternity!

Imagine you invented a product that will be so disruptive it will make your competition look like they never existed. There’s never been anything like it. 

But it’s going to take two million dollars and two years to create, test, market, and launch. And because you have a crystal ball in your back office, you know that chances of failure are zero percent. 

Only a fool would say, “I'm not willing to spend a lot of money and time on something that doesn't make me money right now,” even though he knows it could turn his company into a juggernaut in just half a decade. 

That's what it's like times 1 billion when we put our hope in this life instead of doing everything from the perspective of eternity. But how do you do that? What does that look like practically? 

Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to help you live from the perspective of eternity. 

• Will what I am doing matter 9,000 years from now? Don’t make the mistake of thinking mundane tasks like brushing your teeth or drinking a latte won’t matter 9,000 years from now. What makes it matter is heart intent. If you did it with a heart of gratitude, abiding in Jesus, then yes, it will matter! This is why Paul told the Corinthian church, “Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31). 

• What is God telling me at this moment? A wise man asked me this question during a very dark time in my life. Even if I didn’t have the answer, it didn’t matter. The question lifted my soul because it prompted me to go vertical. When you are deep in hurt and pain, it’s easy to focus on the horizontal, everything around you. But in a dark moment, the best direction we can look is straight up, and ask what the King of heaven is saying. 

• How can I help others not just in a ministry but in my everyday life? In recent years entrepreneurs have discovered this phenomenal idea that if you add massive value to others, you will eventually be paid well for your services. But this concept is not new. Entrepreneurs are simply rediscovering what Jesus taught over 2,000 years ago when He told the crowds, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38).

• When I stand before Jesus with all eternity in front of me, will I regret what I am doing or not doing today? Jeff Bezos called this the Regret Minimization Framework. It led him to launch Amazon. The concept is simple but powerful: “I’m looking back on my life, I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have.” Jeff used this from the perspective of earth. God calls us to think this way from the perspective of all eternity. Your life is not over at age 80, It is just beginning. 

“Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:1–2).