The Ephemeral and Eternal

In a recent talk at BYU Brother David Dollahite spoke about the difference between the ephemeral and the eternal.  I really like this dichotomy because it helps us to prioritize the things we do in our lives.  Is the activity one that contributes to eternal effects or only ephemeral things?  The scriptures certainly focus on that which is eternal.  We read of “eternal world”, “eternal happiness”, “eternal lives”, “eternal life”, “Eternal Father”, “eternal glory”, “eternal weight of glory”, “eternal judgment”, “eternal punishment”, and “eternal salvation” (see, for example, Alma 3:26, D&C 132:55, Helaman 5:8, Moroni 4:3, 2 Timothy 2:10,  2 Corinthians 4:17, Hebrews 6:2, Jacob 7:18, Hebrews 5:9).  We know from the Lord’s revelation directed to Martin Harris that “eternal punishment is God’s punishment” and that “Endless is [His] name” (D&C 19:10-11).  So those things that are “eternal” are really those that are given by the Lord, and the things that are ephemeral are of the world.  Our great challenge then is to, even though we are in the world, “lay aside the things of this world, and seek for the things of a better” (D&C 25:10). 

                Many scriptures teach us of the ephemeral nature of the world, its possessions, and the mortal life of man.  Isaiah wrote, “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever” (Isaiah 40:8).  He also questioned, “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?” (2 Nephi 12:22)  In other words, why worry about man when his mortal life is so temporary; it is the “word of our God” that lasts forever.  Also in the Old Testament the writer of Ecclesiastes lamented, “Vanity of vanities… all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 12:8).  The footnote on the word vanity suggests something that is “empty, fleeting, unsubstantial.”  The things of this world are exactly that.  The Savior taught this in His parable about the rich man who died suddenly: “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20)  Our earthly possessions disappear when we pass to the next life.  This is what the Savior was trying to teach in the Sermon on the Mount:“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matt. 6:19-20).  In other words, seek the eternal and not the ephemeral.  Later in the New Testament James put it this way in talking about the rich: “For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him” (James 1:11-12).  Our riches will wither like the grass in the sun or will disappear like all flowers inevitably do, but if we have endured we will gain a “crown of life” that will never ends. 

Perhaps Moroni put the question best to us that we have to consider as we navigate this life: “Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?” (Mormon 8:38)  We can seek the temporary praise and things of the world now, or we can seek the endless happiness that the Lord will give those who love and serve Him.