Short today comprehending the long tomorrow

He has made everything beautiful and appropriate in its time. He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart [a mysterious longing which nothing under the sun can satisfy, except God]—yet man cannot find out (comprehend, grasp) what God has done (His overall plan) from the beginning to the end. - Ecclesiastes 3:11

We are made for heaven, but meanwhile we live on earth.

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find until after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

From childhood most of us learn to shut out our "true country," to stifle our thirst for the eternal, replacing it with the pursuit of the temporal.

In the Old Testament, material blessing was given for obedience, yet in the New Testament many of the saints were poor.  Enjoying worldly wealth is emphasised in the Old Testament, yet the New Testament talks of giving away possessions.  By their obedience, the Israelites avoided persecution, but by their obedience Christians incur persecution.

No book better demonstrates the relationship of |Old and New Testaments, and the two worlds on which they centre, than the book of Hebrews.

But as it is, Christ has acquired a [priestly] ministry which is more excellent [than the old Levitical priestly ministry], for He is the Mediator (Arbiter) of a better covenant [uniting God and man], which has been enacted and rests on better promises. - Hebrews 8:6

The Old Testament is copy and type and shadow.  The new covenant brings not the temporal inheritance promised Israel, but an eternal inheritance.

The Israelites were citizens of the Promised Land.  We're told our citizenship is in heaven.  We are to stake our claim in the ultimate Promised Land --

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels [in festive gathering] - Hebrews 11:12

 The earthly Jerusalem isn't our destination.

Hebrews speaks of promised blessings, a great inheritance of lasting possessions.  These promises must be patiently awaited, because they come not in this world but the next.

Every time we seek a short-term payday, we lose out on the long-term.

The time of our death is unknown

We may spend our lives running from death and denying death, but that won't stop death from coming at its appointed time.

There is no man who has power and authority over the wind to restrain the wind,
Nor does he have authority over the day of death;
There is no discharge [from service] during time of war,
And evil will not rescue those who [actively seek to] practice it. Ecclesiastes 8:8

Scripture states that eternal realities should influence the character of our present life, right down to every word we speak and every action we take.

In those rare times when we do seriously consider the afterlife, it seems strange, dreamlike, so other-worldly as to be unreal. So we come back to “reality”—our present lives and plans and possessions that we can see and hear and touch and feel and taste. Things are real. Now is real. So we return quickly to the pressing business of the day, that which is immediately relevant, those all-important matters of the present. These might include what’s happening in Hollywood or on Wall Street or in Washington or London, or the NFL or NBA; or what new self-help technique can make us beautiful or happy, or how we can decorate our house, or what kind of car we want to buy or where we can get a low-interest loan. We live as if these shadowlands were the real world, the ultimate reality.  But Scripture tells us they are not. - Randy Alcorn

What does God have to say about our lives here? He say that this life is brief.

[a]Yet you do not know [the least thing] [b]about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air]. - James 4:14

 David likewise sought to gain God's perspective in light of the brevity of life --

“Lord, let me know my [life’s] endAnd [to appreciate] the extent of my days;Let me know how frail I am [how transient is my stay here]. 
“Behold, You have made my days as [short as] hand widths,And my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight.Surely every man at his best is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]            Selah. 
“Surely every man walks around like a shadow [in a charade];Surely they make an uproar for nothing;Each one builds up riches, not knowing who will receive them. 
“And now, Lord, for what do I expectantly wait?My hope [my confident expectation] is in You.  Psalm 39:4-7

Is The Time Of Your Death Predestined By God?