New Year's Resolution: Living With an Eternal Perspective

We all make New Year’s resolutions. One of the most common is, “I’m going to begin a savings account. I’ll start after January 1st.” Here is what we imply when we make that statement: I value preparing for the future, but I’m too concerned with today’s problems to really do anything about it. 

If we don’t live intentionally and without an eternal perspective, this can become our life story. Right now (whether it’s January 1st or not) is when we need to save for the future: living for God and his word and investing in those things that are eternal. 

It was barely five on a mid-winter morning. The air temperature was a chilly 42 degrees, the water temperature 53 degrees. The swell was northwest at a solid four to six feet. This is the day of surfing we dreamed about. We stood in waist deep water as we timed the waves, launched the small Zodiac (a small, inflatable, and rigid boat) over the last set, and motored up to paradise. 

Paradise in my terms is defined as “The Ranch.” Hollister Ranch is an undeveloped stretch of pristine coastline northwest of Santa Barbara, sitting just below Point Conception (Central California). Access to this stretch of amazing surfing is very limited and all but impossible, if you don’t own land on the Ranch. 

Retired professional surfer Bryan Jennings.

Unless you have a boat. Fortunately, one of my good buddies had a boat. 

After cruising at twenty knots for twenty minutes, we pulled up to the first series of right-hand point and reef-breaks. After scrambling to wax our boards, fasten our leashes, and drink the last ounces of precious coffee, we jumped off the side of the Zodiac and paddled to the waves. 

Oh, and one more thing before we jumped into the ocean; 

We never, ever would forget to drop the anchor. The most important pre-surf ritual was to drop the anchor. Without the anchor, our small boat would drift away, leaving us with no way home. Without the anchor, our food and water, dry clothing, and transportation home would be lost. Without the anchor, the boat would drift aimlessly at the mercy of the wind and waves. 

We need an anchor for our lives as desperately as we needed an anchor for our Zodiac. Christ provides that anchor. Christ, as our anchor, protects us from the waves and the winds of life, whether those are doubts, fears, or outward circumstances. With Jesus Christ as our anchor, we are able to live with an eternal perspective. 

One of the more influential and talented bands today is Switchfoot, led by Jon Foreman and his brother Tim. Jon and Tim are both good surfers and named themselves after a surfing term. When asked about the name “Switchfoot,” Jon Foreman says that, “We all love to surf and have been surfing all our lives. So to us, the name made sense. To switch your feet means to take a new stance facing the opposite direction. It’s about change and movement, a different way of approaching life and music.” 

In one of their more popular songs, Switchfoot writes of where our hope is anchored: 

I can feel it building up inside
. The images that play inside my mind
. The dreams that I’ve been dreaming all my life. The colors that live outside of the lines.

But dreams aren’t all I hide beneath this skin. The cord is cut, the fears and doubts begin. My hope is anchored on the other side
. With the colors that live outside of the lines.

Our hope is anchored on the other side. The ultimate reality is not what we see immediately around us—and this shapes our perspective. If we know Christ, we have something we can place our hope and anchor in that is far better than the things around us that don’t last. 

Having Christ as our anchor helps us realize how short our decades on earth are compared to all of eternity. Our perspective on the things of this world changes; we will have an eternal perspective. 

As you begin a new year I encourage you to live with an eternal perspective. I write of this perspective in my upcoming book, Dropping In: Experience the Life You Were Meant to Live. Dropping In arrives next week. Order today for a big discount! 

https://www.shanesebastian.com

Dropping In

Order now: Arrives next week!