“And He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.” Mark 14:24 NKJV
Reflection: What guides your decisions – the moment, or eternity?
In the late afternoon yesterday, we stopped at a restaurant we had driven by many times, but never eaten at before. We really just wanted to look at the menu, and see the place, to determine if we wanted to come there for dinner sometime. We already had made other plans for dinner yesterday. The hostess greeted us, and asked if we wanted a table. We decided that, perhaps we could have an appetizer, since dinner was still a few hours away. So far so good. But then the waitress tells us about their amazing barbecue ribs, on their “appetizer” menu, so we had a decision to make. We told the waitress we would try them. Lo and behold, they were truly amazing. But for anyone who has eaten ribs before, you know that this is not exactly a light meal. While they tasted good in the moment, it was perhaps a poor choice given that we were going to have dinner later.
We live in a world trying to grab our attention all the time, it is so easy to lose track of what is actually important. Of what really matters. We get focused on some detail of the day, even of the moment, but forget to see the big picture. Just like our afternoon appetizer experience, we can so easily choose what is tempting in the moment, trading off the longer term implications. Let’s think a bit broader with example of food to general health. Say we have a family history of some disease, and that that we can greatly reduce the risk of the disease by avoiding certain foods. But, when sitting at a restaurant, presented with amazing food choices, we can easily forgo the thought of long term effects for the pleasure of the moment. Of course, one meal is never the issue. The problem creeps in over time, if we time and again make unhealthy choices.
The fundamental question is, what drives our decision making? Is it the pleasure of the moment, or the bigger picture? The moment, or eternity? Decisions we are faced with daily often involve an easy path, good in the moment, and a more difficult path that requires sacrificing the pleasure of the moment. In the health example, choosing to eat well each day, and to exercise, is the hard path, but the gain is over a lifetime. And, it is really an example of the spiritual battle we are in. Do we make decisions to live for the moment, or for eternity? Are we guided by the flesh, or by the Spirit? Because,
“The flesh lives only for the moment; our souls are eternal.”
Mark 14 is an amazing example of Jesus having an eternal focus, regardless of the cost in the moment. Time and again, we read of His focus, His determination on the eternal picture. The focus verse today is a very familiar verse to all Christians, from the last supper, where the Lord Jesus instituted a New Covenant, in His blood. We remember this supper, and this new covenant as “Communion”. And, in this single verse, we see perhaps the best summary of the whole of the New Testament. Actually, it is the New Testament. The KJV translation reads “And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.” Mark 14:24 KJV. Interesting, right? Turns out the words “covenant” and “testament” are synonyms. So, we have the Old Testament (old covenant), and the New Testament (new covenant). This single verse is why Jesus came. It is the big picture.
In Hebrews, we read “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV. Unless Jesus had focused solely on what was eternal, you and I would have never had access to God. He is the only way. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6 KJV
This has direct implications also to us, each day and each moment as we make decisions on how to live. Paul wrote “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”Galatians 5:16 ESV. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Romans 8:5 NKJV. So, what is driving us, moment to moment, day to day? Is it our flesh, pleasures of the moment? Or is it something bigger, eternal? Let’s be focused on the big picture.
