It is in the night that I find these thoughts come to me and at the same time I think of my Father and my Mother and I wonder what they felt they had achieved.

They had children and grandchildren but no money or possessions to pass on and they may have thought they had achieved very little but I can tell you that I believe my parents passed on to me things that are priceless and I still cherish their memory today.

Not that I was much credit to them. I caused them some sorrow and got into all sorts of mischief but I am convinced that they imparted to me a sense of values that have stood me in good stead in later life.

Do you sometimes wonder what you have achieved? How you will be remembered?

Whatever you do, don't equate achievement to money, power or influence. It may be that we will find as we go over things with the Lord in a day to come, that we achieved more for him than we could have dreamed of and yet never knew we had. Perhaps in a few words, one day we, we unknowingly, served his eternal purpose in respect of someone else and perhaps all our experiences in life were but a preparation for that one moment.

You see it is what God has achieved that really counts. We need to stop thinking of our own achievements and see things through God's eyes.

Nebuchadnezzar had already acknowledged God as a result of his contacts with Daniel and then with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. You would have thought he was a converted man, but to worship God out of necessity as a result of seeing a demonstration of his power, is a long way from coming to an end of oneself.

That is the goal. The ultimate goal for every Christian and yet so little understood. To come to an end of me and for God's man, Jesus to be everything and in all.

That is ecstasy. Isn't it extraordinary that ultimate happiness is when all thought of self is gone and you are completely absorbed with Jesus? That is completely contrary to all that the world believes and teaches. The hymn speaks of that moment when “All thought of self is now for ever o'er and Christ the unmingled object fills the heart”. You touch it sometimes momentarily, especially when singing praises with your brethren but what does it take to be conscious of it during your normal daily life?

You see, one day, we will wake up and realise that to analyse our own achievements completely misses the point and it is what God has achieved in us and through us that counts and only that.

Your sanity is then restored. Nebuchadnezzar says “My sanity was restored”. That is not the sanity of a madman but it means he is now getting everything into perspective.
He realises that God's plan is an eternal plan. He begins to get his own life into perspective. Have we done that?

Have I yet grasped that everything that happens to me in this life and everything that I go through with God, pleasant or unpleasant is preparing me to fit into and play my part throughout eternity? Do I really believe in eternity or do I just pay lip service to the idea?

Have you ever stopped to think about what you will be doing during the 1000 year reign of Christ and what the new heavens and earth might be like?

Can you grasp the idea of a life without end?

Through his Spirit, God has offered to give us the gift of eternal life now, prior to eternity. It is that character and quality of life that will never end or terminate in death. It is not even subject to death yet it can influence and permeate our lives here just as though we were not subject to death. That is the victory Christ has given us so that we are no longer “Through fear of death, subject to bondage” as the scripture says.

Eternal life is given in contrast to a life that will be terminated by death. It is not eternity itself but a character of life that will go through death and find its full untainted expression throughout eternity. Timothy, who writes for the last days, says “Lay hold of eternal life to which you have been called” and the New Testament is full of references to eternal life.

Nebuchadnezzar grasps that idea in what he says (verses 34-37) and comes to an end of himself.

Paul, at the end of his life tells us in 2 Corinthians 4. v 16-18 that, “If indeed our outward man is consumed, yet the inward is renewed day by day, for our momentary and light affliction works for us in surpassing measure an eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen. For the things that are seen are for a time but the things that are not seen are eternal”

Paul had things in perspective. I need to get things into perspective and keep them in perspective.
                                                                                                                                                                                   The Author