According to the Scriptures all human beings have these two things in common: we are all born with a sin nature and possess an eternal soul. As a result of these two commonalities all of humanity enters life with a major dilemma. Stated simply, we all have sinned against an infinitely holy God. And without God intervening in a supernatural way, because of our sin, we all stand judged guilty eternally, and our soul must stand eternally separated from God.
I must admit, that humanly speaking, I am not comfortable with this eternal separation from God in a literal hell, but I also know as a Christian that God is always fair, even when I don’t fully understand His ways. But thankfully while God’s wrath against sin demands an eternal payment, His mercy and love offers an eternal pardon through Jesus Christ!
With eternity on the line, for each and every soul, the paramount question is how can we best use our very limited time here on earth to share the only antidote for rescuing each soul from hell – that being accepting God’s free pardon for our sins through the substitutionary death of His Son – Jesus Christ.
As Christians, not only are we here to worship God, but we are here to share the good news that Jesus can change and restamp all passports from hell-bound eternally to heaven-bound eternally. I like what Harry Ironside said regarding time: “Time is given us to use in view of eternity.”1 And to this thought, R. C. Sproul, adds: “Right now counts forever.”2 With our time on earth being so short, compared to eternity, as Christians, we must do everything in our power to share Jesus to prevent souls from being eternally lost.
So, what can we do to fulfill our role here on planet earth as Christ’s messengers? Simply put, we can take every opportunity to share Christ with those people we come in contact with. We can live exemplary lives so that our testimony will convict lost souls. And we can fervently pray that the Lord will open blind eyes and hardened hearts to the message of Calvary.
My friends, the eternal destiny of souls stand in the balance. In closing may I leave you with this powerful quote from Thomas Watson, that I pray will not only touch your heart but motivate you to share Jesus – the only light of the world – both now and forever: “Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.”3
1 Harry Ironside – Time is given us to use in view of eternity.
Born Crooked, Bound for Judgment (m.r.neveu)
Curt Blattman’s devotional picks up the evangelistic carving knife. We are born with a sin nature, carry an eternal soul, and we spend every day under eternal consequences…even when we have meatloaf at the ghetto diner. No valet.
That is not Sunday morning cosmetics. Think here, “the central human crisis.” We are temporary creatures made in His image, and we be making eternal decisions while dragging a sinful nature through a battlefield run by a liar (special guest star, Satin)…and all supposedly via “free will.”
Did you really place a 5-1 bet on your sanctification, homie? Hmm.
The Christian life, then, is not about looking respectable in church lighting, is it? Maybe it’s about living with just enuf holiness, urgency, mercy, and grit that our lives stop helping Satan with his rollcall paperwork.
There’s a Battle going on, Ethyl, and we gotta choose the side of the fence we be painting.
By the Numbas we fly, by the grace of God we try…kick it.
________________________________________
1. We Are Born Bent, Not Merely Bruised
Nowadays we prefer softer words. “Wounded.” “Complicated.” “Unresolved.” All true enough, as bumper-sticker therapy goes. Scripture goes deeper & less politely. We are not merely misinformed. We are fallen.
Paul does not say, “All have had difficult childhoods and need a better self-care routine.” He says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
David goes even further into the uncomfortable dungeon. “In sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Not because babies are plotting tax fraud in the crib.
We are born into a condition we cannot buy or steal our way out of.
See, if sin is merely bad behavior, then education fixes us. If sin is merely trauma, then therapy fixes us. If sin is merely poverty, then economics fixes us. But if sin is rebellion against a holy God, then only grace can rescue us.
That is where reality apologetics begins. Not by polishing human dignity until it sparkles. Just tell the truth. Man is glorious because he bears God’s image (Genesis 1:26–27). Man is dangerous because that image has been cracked by sin.
We are cathedrals with termites. We are kings with mud in the crown.
And yes, that is offensive. So is cancer. The offended tumor is still fatal.
________________________________________
2. We Possess Eternal Souls – Time Is Not Disposable.
The second reality is even heavier. The soul does not expire with the body.
Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul” (Matthew 10:28). That’s the Lord placing a warning label on existence. The soul is eternal. Death is not deletion. It is a transfer ticket to ride.
It’s why Scripture treats time with such violence and urgency. “Teach us to number our days” (Psalm 90:12). “Make the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). “It is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
The world says time is money. Scripture says time is testimony. So, testimony is eternal money? Think Valuation.
That should change a few things fer ya. Every hour becomes spiritual capital. Every conversation can become mercy. Every habit becomes formation. Every private compromise becomes architecture. We are not merely passing time. We are becoming someone…with an eternal valuation.
This is where Satan earns his old reputation as father of lies (John 8:44). He rarely begins by screaming, “Reject God and destroy your soul.” Too ghetto. Even demons understand marketing. He whispers something far more effective:
“You have time.”
Later. Tomorrow. After retirement. After this season. After the kids are grown. After the business stabilizes. After you feel more spiritual. After you have sinned just enough to know better but not enough to be ruined, which is adorable reasoning from a species that keeps touching hot stoves.
Satan does not need most people to become atheists. He only needs them to become distracted.
________________________________________
3. Exemplary Living Is Required, But It Is Not Easy.
Mr. Blattman’s point about living exemplary lives is right on. It needs steel reinforcement. Exemplary Christian living is not religious manners. It is visible warfare.
Jesus said His disciples are the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13–16). Peter says believers should keep their behavior excellent among unbelievers so that even hostile observers may see their good deeds and glorify God (1 Peter 2:12). Paul tells believers to appear as lights in a crooked generation (Philippians 2:15).
Beautiful. Also needs to be recognized as brutal. Because the Christian is trying to live uprightly while carrying three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil.
The flesh wants comfort. The world wants conformity. Satan wants accusation thru agreement (let’s get along to go along.)
There’s the trap. Sin tempts first, then condemns afterward. Satan sells the poison, then prosecutes the customer. Charming little hell broker.
Exemplary living is difficult because holiness is not natural to fallen man. It is supernatural. It requires surrender, discipline, repentance, humility, and endurance. It requires telling the truth when lies would profit. It requires forgiving when bitterness feels warm. It requires sexual purity in a culture that treats lust as oxygen. It requires generosity in an economy of fear. It requires courage in an age where cowardice has been rebranded as nuance.
Here is the part where religious people often fake it. Even Christians fail. Bet on it. …Oh, you did, that’s right.
The issue is not whether we stumble. The issue is whether we repent. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us” (1 John 1:9). The exemplary life is not sinless performance. It is visible surrender. It is the life that keeps returning to Christ instead of negotiating a lease with darkness.
________________________________________
4. The Best Use of Earthly Time Is Worship, Witness, and War.
So how do we best use our time on earth? Not by becoming frantic religious salesmen with gospel pamphlets flying out of our pockets like confetti at a guilt parade. Not by retreating into holy huddles where Christians discuss doctrine while the world burns outside. Not by confusing moral outrage with spiritual maturity.
We use our time well by ordering life around three realities.
First: Worship God before you try to work for God. Worship is not the Christian hobby department. It is the furnace. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). If our service is not born from worship, it becomes ego in religious clothing.
And ego wearing a cross is still ego. It just learned church vocabulary.
Second: Bear witness with words and conduct.
The gospel must be spoken. Paul asks how people will believe unless they hear (Romans 10:14–15). Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). So no, “lifestyle evangelism” is not enough if it never opens its mouth. A silent witness eventually becomes a mime, and nobody needs more theological mime.
But words without credibility are weak. The life must not sabotage the message. A Christian testimony should not require a forensic accountant to reconcile it with our behavior.
Third: Fight spiritually, not theatrically.
Paul says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12). Peter says the devil prowls like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). James gives the strategy: submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee (James 4:7).
That means the Christian life is not passive. It is resistance. Prayer is resistance. Obedience is resistance. Confession is resistance. Scripture is resistance. Forgiveness is resistance. Telling the truth is resistance. Every act of faithfulness tells hell: “Not today.”
________________________________________
5. Eternity Makes Ordinary Faithfulness Matter.
The terrifying mercy of Christianity is that nothing is small.
A prayer whispered in weakness matters. A sin resisted matters. A child taught the truth matters. A stranger encouraged matters. A spouse loved faithfully matters. A dying saint comforted matters. A gospel conversation over bad coffee matters.
Why? Because eternity is real.
Jesus warns of eternal judgment (Matthew 25:46). He also promises eternal life to those who believe in Him (John 3:16). The divide is not between nice people and awful people. That would be convenient, especially for nice people who are awful with better lighting. The divide is between those in Christ and those outside Him.
This is why the Christian cannot afford sleepy living. Souls are eternal. Sin is lethal. Christ is sufficient. Time is short.
Curt’s cited theme is right: time must be used in view of eternity. But reality apologetics adds the hard edge: if Christians live as though eternity is theoretical, we should not be shocked when unbelievers treat Christ as optional.
The world does not need Christians who merely disapprove of darkness. It needs Christians who burn.
Not theatrically. Not arrogantly. Not as social-media prophets with ring lights and spiritual indigestion. Burn with holiness. Burn with mercy. Burn with truth. Burn with prayer. Burn with the kind of life that makes unbelief uncomfortable because Christ has become visible in ordinary flesh.
________________________________________
Closing: The Earth Is Short. The Soul Is Not.
We are born with a sin nature and entrusted with an eternal soul. That is the human contradiction: dirt and forever in the same body.
Christ does not deny the dirt. He redeems it.
So, the best use of our time on earth is not self-expression, self-preservation, or self-promotion. It is surrendered usefulness. Worship God. Resist sin. Speak Christ. Serve people. Pray hard. Repent quickly. Forgive deeply. Tell the truth before the age of lies finishes its little parade into judgment.
The Christian life is difficult because the enemy is real, the flesh is stubborn, the world is loud, and holiness costs blood.
But Christ is risen. So, spend your time like eternity is watching.
A person who forgets eternity will waste his life decorating his cell. A person who remembers Christ will turn even his scars into testimony.