How Long Will What You Do LAST?
These two paragraphs in NT Wright’s great book, Jesus and the Powers are some of the best descriptions of how what we do in this life has eternal value and it is carried into God’s new world (the New Jerusalem). To let it sink in, read it at least 2 or 3 times.
“What we do matters because it carries over into the final new creation. We are not called to tinker in the world and then walk away from it, but to curate creation for its consummation. We are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to fall over a cliff. We are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown on to the fire. We are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site. We are – strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself – accomplishing something which will become, in due course, part of God’s new world.
“If that is true, then, every act of love, gratitude and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely disabled child to read or to walk; every act of care for a dying patient; every deed of comfort and support for refugees; everything done for one’s fellow human beings; everything to preserve and beautify the created order; all spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the Church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, every prayer for the heart’s longings, and the worship that makes the name of Jesus honoured in the world – all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make. That is the logic of the mission of God. God’s recreation of his wonderful world, which has begun with the resurrection of Jesus, continues mysteriously as God’s people live in the risen Christ and in the power of his spirit. This means that what we do in Christ and by the spirit in the present is not wasted, not abandoned, not discarded. Our holy labours will last long, all the way into God’s new world. In fact, they will even be enhanced there.”
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that YOUR LABOR IN THE LORD IS NOT IN VAIN.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
