Sprinting For Samara? Looking Through Eternity's Lens - Taken From The Book The Law of Rewards By Permission From Randy Alcorn. An ancient story goes like this: A slave travels with his masters to Baghdad. Early one morning, while milling through the marketplace, the slave sees death in human form. Death gives him a threatening look. The slave recoils in terror, convinced Death intends to take him that day. The slave runs to his master and says, "Help me. I have seen Death, and the look in his eyes tells me he intends to take my life this very day. Please, master, let me leave now and flee on camel so that by tonight I can reach Samara, where Death will not find me." His master agrees, and the terrified servant rides like the wind for the fifteen-hour journey to Samara. A few hours later, the master sees Death among the throngs in Baghdad. He boldly approaches Death and asks him, "Why did you give my servant a threatening look?" "That was not a threatening look," Death replies. "That was a look of surprise. You see, I was amazed to see your servant today in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samara." True, the story's imagery is misleading - it's our righteous Master, not Death, who has the power to call us home at the appointed time. But the moral is on target. The time of our death is unknown. The way of our death is unpredictable. But the fact of our death is inescapable. The statistics are unwavering: 100 percent of those who are born die. We may spend our lives running from death and denying death, but that won't stop death from coming at its appointed time. "No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death" (Ecclesiastes 8:8). Talking about death won't bring it a moment sooner. But it will give an opportunity to prepare for what lies ahead. If life's greatest certainty is death, wouldn't it be foolish not to prepare for what lies beyond this life? Any life that leaves us unprepared for death is a wasted life. What does this have to do with money and possessions, or the law of rewards? It has everything to do with it. The single greatest contributor to our inability to see money and possessions in their true light - and our tendency to ignore the law of rewards - is our persistent failure to see our present lives through the lens of eternity. WHEN WE SEE OUR LIVES THROUGH THE LENS OF ETERNITY, OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD WEALTH WILL CHANGE DRASTICALLY. Are you viewing life through the lens of eternity? If not, today is a great day to begin!
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