Paul Tripp again delivers a book that is not only readable but it is highly relevant to our culture today. We are a culture that is motivated to cram as much into our day as possible and if necessary go to work. We work so that we have the money to do the things that we really want to do.
But as our culture gets more involved we are finding that the soccer moms are more stressed out than ever. They spend their day, cleaning, doing laundry, taking the kids to school, soccer practice, ballet lessons, piano lessons, after school events, church events and then family events. By the end of the day or the end of the week everyone falls into bed totally exhausted to grab a few hours sleep before starting the routine again.
Why do we do that?
In “Forever” Tripp is trying to help us sort out why we do what we do and what is the meaning of life for each of us. He believes that Christians have especially lost sight of ‘Forever.’ We are supposed to live our lives with the hope of Eternity in our hearts. If that is true why don’t we slow down enough to look at our lives and ask this question, “What impact does this event have on eternity?”
Now granted some events have little or no impact on eternity yet God is happy we do them because they bring joy to our present life. But often times we strive to gain more money to buy more things to impress more people when with eternity in mind they have no impact on our Eternal Life.
Many people today are seeing counselors because they can’t say no. Or they don’t see any value in their lives.
Dr. Tripp wants us to stop and ask this question, “What did God have in mind for us when he planted the hope of Eternity in our hearts?” Wasn’t it to give us some perspective of what value we ought to place on present day activities?
My favorite chapters in his book were;
Chapter 2, “The Pack-it-all-in Mentality”
Chapter 7, “Hope Can’t Live Without Forever”
Chapter 8, “Suffering is Harder When You Have No Forever”
Chapter 9, “Forever and Your Relationships”
For me the most impacting was Chapter 8, “Suffering is Harder When You Have No Forever.” I think Dr. Tripp does a great job of helping us to understand why bad things happen to good people and then to further understand why some people handle suffering better than others. With the hope of “Forever” in your heart you can see that present day suffering pales in comparison to our Eternal Future with the Lord. It helps us to have a different outlook on life.
This book is going to be one of the best tools you can put in your library to help you in processing today’s hectic lifestyle with our hope for the future.
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