Life on earth is a temporary assignment. The Bible is full of metaphors that teach about the brief, temporary, transient nature of life on earth. Life is described as a vapor. The Bible says, "For we were born but yesterday and know so little; our days here on earth are as transient as shadows" (Job 8:9 TLB).
To make the best use of life, you must never forget two truths: First, compared with eternity, life is extremely brief. Second, earth is only a temporary residence. You won't be here long, so don't get too attached. Ask God to help you see life on earth as He sees it. David prayed, "Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am" (Psalm 39:4).
Repeatedly the Bible compares life on earth to temporary living in a foreign country. This is not your permanent home or final destination. You're just passing through, just visiting earth. The Bible uses terms like alien, pilgrim, foreigner, stranger, visitor and traveler to describe our brief stay here on earth. David said, "I am a stranger in the earth" (Psalm 119:19).
Your identity is in eternity and your homeland is Heaven. When you grasp this truth, you will stop worrying about "having it all" on earth. God is very blunt about the danger of living for the here and now and adopting the values, priorities and lifestyles of the world around us. When we flirt with the temptations of this world, God calls it spiritual adultery. The Bible says, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4:4).
The fact that earth is not our ultimate home explains why, as followers of Jesus, we experience difficulty, sorrow, and rejection in this world. It also explains why some of God's promises seem unfulfilled, some prayers seem unanswered, and some circumstances seem unfair. This is not the end of the story.
In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of dissatisfaction and discontent in life—longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity. We're not completely happy here because we're not supposed to be! Earth is not our final home; we were created for something much better.
In God's eyes, the greatest heroes of the faith are not those who achieve prosperity, success and power in this life, but those who treat this life as a temporary assignment and serve faithfully, expecting their promised reward in eternity. The Bible says this about God's Hall of Fame: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. … They desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city" (Hebrews 11:13,16). It takes faith to live on earth as a foreigner.
An old story is told of a retiring missionary coming home to America on the same boat as the president of the United States. Cheering crowds, a military band, a red carpet, banners, and the media welcomed the president home, but the missionary slipped off the ship unnoticed. Feeling self-pity, he began complaining to God. Then God gently reminded him, "But My child, you're not home yet."
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