The last verse of this passage says…
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
It is an interesting way to conclude a passage that largely talks about what happens to our bodies after we die. Paul seems to be saying that if you want to be the most effective in this world on the Lord’s behalf then you need to think eschatologically!
Say what?
Think eschatologically! It means to think about the end times. C.S. Lewis put in this way in his book Mere Christianity:
If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next…. (Those who left their mark on earth did so) precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at heaven and you will earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.
He also said…
Most of us find it very difficult to want Heaven at all – except in so far as Heaven means meeting again our friends who have died. One reason for this difficulty is that we have not been trained: our whole education tends to fix our minds on this world.
Paul’s encouragement to the Corinthian believers, and to us, is to “set your minds on the things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2) Rather than this making us “so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good”, instead it reminds us that when life is hard and ministry is hard that we have much to anticipate in the life to come – therefore we can “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” while we deal with life on earth.
Think eschatologically!
May this brick encourage you to spend time thinking about heavenly things – and may your imagination soar and your heart rejoice as you anticipate the life to come.