Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings [are here]!” 2 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not [one] stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”

– Mark 13:1-2 (NKJV)

The first time I went to the beach we built sandcastles. Then I noticed that as the tide came in, it washed the sandcastle away. It was there one moment and then when we came back from playing in the water we noticed that most of it had washed away.

On that same trip I noticed all the condos, the fancy boats, the types of vehicles, and the number of beautiful restaurants. I was impressed with all the wealth that I saw on display around me. I couldn’t help but wonder where everyone got their money.

Then I experience my first hurricane on the gulf coast. Several weeks after the storm had passed, my friends and I went to the beach and we saw that the place was devastated. They were still doing reconstruction on buildings that had been damaged. Sand was pushed into all sorts of places it wasn’t supposed to be and some of those boats were torn to pieces or pushed inland.

One of the disciples can’t help but marvel at the decadence that surrounds the temple. He is amazed. Jesus doesn’t let his amazement linger long as he speaks to his disciple and tells him that all these stones will be torn down. All the disciple could see was what was there now, he had no way to see the future. But Jesus knew what was coming. His perspective was eternal.

If we aren’t careful we will spend our lives invested in the here and now and we will miss what is coming. We need to look with a long term, eternal perspective. So much of the work of our hands will be erased by future generations, but the work that Christ does in our lives will last.

Father, We love you and want to grow in knowledge of you and your word. Help us set our eyes on the eternal today. Don’t let us waste our lives on just admiring the here and now, but let our hearts be focused on your kingdom and glory. Give us discernment as we apply your word to our lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.