Temporal or Eternal

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

TEMPORAL OR ETERNAL

Luke 14:12-14

12 Then Jesus said to his host, "When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." 

NIV

It might be possible that we would have a luncheon or a dinner that we would invite a bunch of our friends to join us, but it is doubtful that we would know any of the poor, crippled, lame, and blind to invite instead of our friends. However, that is different from what Jesus is talking about. There is the temporal realm and the eternal realm and that is what everything is about. When we live in this temporal realm and do all our good deeds, that we think are being a good Christian, it is still may be about looking good before man and expecting some sort of compensation, or recognition for all our hard work. It is also quite possible that we are working, putting much effort into this temporal realm to advance our position, make ourselves more comfortable with all the stuff this world has to offer, and even store up as much as possible for our future days in this temporal realm. Jesus made it clear when he said that we should not work for food that spoils, but rather work for eternal food. This is the whole idea of living in the eternal realm where Jesus will give us this food that endures to eternal life. Living by faith rather than by works is the difference, although we do serve our Lord, doing that which he has called us to do would benefit the kingdom of God. That is far different from working for our benefit in this temporal realm. Who are we inviting to the party, Jesus or ourselves? We might think that if we work hard enough in this world, we will get paid back somehow, with a better position, a raise in pay, more recognition, etc., but what good is that in the eternal realm. We cannot even work hard enough in the spirit realm, thinking somehow, we will get more jewels in our crowns. Jesus made it very clear, that the work that God requires is to believe in the one he sent. So when we believe in Jesus we are given the eternal payback, it is given freely, without labor, except then to love the Lord God with our whole being and to love our neighbor which includes those that have far less than we do, inviting them in, giving them food that endures to eternal life, while still providing for their temporal needs. We do live in the temporal, but we live for the eternal.