Episode 273: I’m Talkin. . .Temporary

Jul 9, 2023

I’m Talkin’, episode 273, for July 9th, 2023.

This is Joel from the I’m Talkin’ microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking temporary.

Temporary is, you know, it’s a known word, fairly common, one that we use semi-regularly, I would guess, in our conversations throughout our lifetimes.

And the definition in everybody’s mind, regardless of point of view, is quite similar, I think.

I don’t think people would argue there are temporary things.

We set up temporary shelters, go to the beach, we know that the shade that we set up is just temporary, it’s just for a short period of time.

We know it’s not permanent, and so we understand what that looks like.

But I think there’s a difference sometimes in the way the world looks at that word, and we as Christians might look at that word, and maybe it has to do with planned and unplanned temporary items.

So there may be things that we plan to be more permanent that end up being temporary, or things that we plan to be temporary, and they don’t necessarily surprise us.

But herein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

As Christians, our use of the word temporary reaches a little further than the world’s.

I kind of thought of it as an umbrella.

I think the umbrella of the word temporary held by a Christian covers a wider swath of area around that person who calls on the name of Christ than it does for those who do not.

And what is it that I mean by that?

Well, I think that we understand, or we need to understand as Christians, that most of what we do, what we see, what we make, what we accomplish is all temporary in light of eternity with Jesus Christ.

And I think when we grasp that as Christians, we tend to hold things and items a little more loosely and hold people a little more tightly because we see people as permanent.

We see people as eternal, and their eternity is determined on what they believe and what they accept about who Jesus Christ is.

The one thing that we know or need to teach ourselves to commit to is that God is sovereign.

I heard a song today that was quite sad.

I don’t know the title.

I don’t know the singer, but the song started at, sometimes babies die, sometimes people cry or something like that.

But just that first line gripped me, and the singer said, but God has never been anything but kind.

I shake my fist, I yell in anger, and God has never been anything but kind.

And because we know God is sovereign, if we can lean on him to hold things more loosely, if we can recognize that bad things happen to good people, and we know that the permanence of our existence lies in who Jesus Christ is and what he did for us on the cross, then and only then do we learn to live sold out for God’s glory.

Until next time, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.

Bye bye.

Thanks for watching.

God bless.