Getting the Secular into Christianity

I had a conversation this morning with a friend that re-awakened me to a way of thinking that I haven't felt in quite a while.

It runs like this: As I grew up in a secular household, and as an agnostic, I believed that when I die that I would cease to exist. No more consciousness. Stick my body in the ground. Done.

One of the good things in that mindset, I believe, is the belief that we have to do what we can with what we've got now. We've gotta make the best of it. Carpe Diem. Seize the day. We're never gonna get to have this again, ran the thought process.

When I became a believer in Christ, my whole mindset changed. Sure, sometimes I have a default belief that I will just be buried into the ground and cease to exist; but, that belief has become weaker over time. My belief in the afterlife has grown in strength and death is less feared than before.

One of the things I think I've experienced as a believer is this mindset that says that this world is bad and heaven will be good. I often think, "I'll be glad to get outta here. I'll never miss this sin infested world."

But, there's something I've gotta remember from my secular, agnostic heritage. I'm never gonna have this again. When I die and heaven becomes a present reality, I'll never get to have what I have now. Most certainly, I will be so glad to be where I was made to be, and I'll never want to go back, but there's something I have to believe. I have to believe that I still have to do the best with what I've got now. I've got to really cherish this life because I won't ever have it again. There is some sort of reason why we're here right now. There is some sort of value of being in this sin infested world. There's something important about it and there's something important about taking value in it.

As Christians, we've got to learn from the agnostics and athiests, or get back to those roots of ours, so to speak. We've got to treat this world like it's all we've got, sort of. We've got to remember that once we leave, we'll never get it back. We've got to do the best with what we can right now and cherish each moment as though it is exactly what God wants for us, even though heaven will be 10,000 times better. We've got to savor every moment, trusting that in heaven we will look back on it and say, "Wow. I'm so glad I did that earthly existence, afterall. Thanks God."