What Still Stands

“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” 
1 John 2:17 (ESV)

What in your life feels so solid that you can’t imagine it disappearing?

I heard a story about a man named Peter, hiking near Spirit Lake in Washington with his wife and another couple. He’d just learned he had a malignant tumor, and he didn’t know how much time he had left. They found a rustic cottage at the base of a waterfall, with fir trees and mountains framing it like a postcard, and his wife booked it for a year out.

Outside, Peter broke down. “Everything here feels so solid,” he told his friends, “and my life is hanging by a thread. I may not even be alive to keep that reservation.”

A year later, Peter was still alive, but the lake, the cottage, the trees, and the mountain were gone, buried when Mount St. Helens erupted. What looked unshakable disappeared. What looked fragile was still standing.

The Apostle John said this would happen. “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17, ESV).

If you’re building your life on a career, a relationship, or a secure and comfortable retirement package, you’re building on shaky ground. Only what’s connected to God’s will stands when all else falls. And in our uncertain and unstable world, you need steady ground.

Why not ask God what you might be building that He never asked you to? Tell one person who’ll be honest with you about what He says. Then take action. 

Trust Him with the money you’ve been grasping. Take the career move God’s been nudging you toward, even though the comfortable option is easier. If you’re in a relationship with someone who doesn’t love Jesus, end it and trust Him with what it costs you.

Mountains fall. What God builds still stands.

Father, thank You that building my life on You is secure and eternal. Show me where I’m building what is temporary, instead of building Your Kingdom. Keep me obedient in what You’re asking of me right now. In Jesus’ name, Amen.