Marcus Aurelius, the great philosopher and Roman Emperor from 161 to 180, once said, "What we do in life ripples in eternity", a quote made famous by the blockbuster film Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe.
We are not nearly so interested in eternity these days it seems and yet for faith it is the ultimate context that is vital for this life.
I once got a job cleaning at a bank in Dunedin. It was a specialist job after a small fire had left black smoke damage throughout the basement floor.
I was shown through the bank by a junior manager and had the job described to me and then told that my team and
I was shown the door from inside the bank but didn't walk through it then. When I asked how I would alert the staff to my presence the next morning I was told just to knock loudly.
So, at 7.55 the next morning I knocked heavily on the door. Someone came to the door immediately and asked who I was.
I explained I was there to clean out the basement floor as arranged the previous day. The person had apparently not heard that this was happening, so I just told them to ask the manager.
Not wanting to appear ignorant, he let me in and then scampered upstairs to a staff meeting.
I let my workers in and we proceeded downstairs, but the dirty ceilings had disappeared. Someone had apparently cleaned the whole place in the night.
I was totally bemused and went upstairs to seek an explanation. I shall never forget what I saw.
A man was letting forth to all the staff about the day's business, with the staff paying close attention to every word he said. But everything was different.
I looked around and realised immediately that I was, in fact, in the next-door building ... which just happened to be another bank.
Needless to say, we crept out the back door, found the right door and began work 10 minutes later ... in the right bank.
In life, context is everything. I found a door to the wrong bank largely because I didn't expect there to be two doors and because I was unfamiliar with the back of the building, the context.
The staff member of the bank let me in largely because I convinced him of a context which didn't exist _ his bank didn't need cleaning and because he wasn't willing to appear ignorant of an arrangement with the manager, a context he possibly should have known about, he let me into a bank I had no business being in.
Much of life is a matter of learning to understand the context.
Driving a car requires an understanding of all that makes up the huge context of our traffic systems, from the technical aspects of driving to the road rules, to awareness of pedestrian movements and much more.
Not knowing this context or, worse, ignoring it, risks both the ire of the law and the frustration and, sometimes, tragedy, of an accident.
Christian faith teaches that one vital context to understand is eternity.
We live our lives against the backdrop of eternity which means this life is a preparation for another life, a life with God.
This has some serious implications.
Firstly, we all tend to live towards a believed future determined by deeply held perspectives.
This means that often our behaviour takes on a morality determined by that believed future.
I believe my actions in this life will have meaning for the next. That makes a considerable difference to what I do and say here and now.
Secondly, my belief in eternity makes my attitude towards others far more important because they will also share an eternity with me.
Therefore, the context of eternity makes me much more considerate of those around me and of the relationship I have with them.
It is no coincidence that often those in history who've left a positive mark are those who believed in eternity.
Eternity changes everything today if we take it seriously and we should because it provides, in this life, the context for the next.
As C S Lewis once said: "The present is the point at which time touches eternity."
Richard Dawson is the minister at Leith Valley Presbyterian Church.
