Fixing Our Eyes on Eternity with Vanessa Hawkins
On today’s episode, we’re chatting about keeping the endgame in mind as we go about the hard work of ministry by fixing our eyes on eternity with Vanessa K. Hawkins. Vanessa has her Masters of Divinity from Covenant Theological Seminary and serves as the Director of Women’s Ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Augusta, Georgia. She is currently pursuing her DMin at Covenant Theological Seminary with a focus on cultural apologetics and serves the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) Women’s Ministry as Diversity Adviser. She is honored to be the wife of her third-grade friend Marcus, and together they are the parents of Kayla, Sydney, and Chelsey. You can follow her on Twitter, Instagram and the Something to Talk About podcast on Spotify and the Apple Podcasts app.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Can you tell us a little about who you are and what you do?
In this season of the Journeywomen podcast we've talked about walking alongside one another in various joys and hardships. Why is it important that we keep our eyes fixed on eternity as we walk through both good times and hard times?
Why does God allow us to walk through suffering and grief on this side of heaven? Why not just eliminate our pain and hardship?
How does living with eternity in view change the way we walk through this life?
How does it change the way we walk alongside others and encourage them in their various joys and sorrows?
Why do you think we are prone to forget that this is not our home? Why do we so often think and act like this world is our final destination?
What might we see in ourselves if we've lost sight of eternity? What do you do when you personally experience this?
What are the things that we will take/carry with us into eternity? What is the joy in knowing we will walk alongside one another forever and ever?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“The joys and hardships are not an end unto themselves. Looking solely at our joys might lead us to conclude that we have somehow earned favor because of our own goodness. Looking solely at the sorrows might lead us to falsely conclude that our unpleasant circumstances result from the Lord’s displeasure, or that he doesn’t care.”
“Placing our joys and sorrows within the framework of eternity helps us to take ourselves out of the center and places the purposes and desires of God, a good and sovereign king, there in the center instead. When we do that, we can then trust that our joys and sorrows are allowed by this gracious king and that they extend beyond the limited purposes of today and well into eternity. And that’s encouraging.”
‘God is too good to be unkind and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.’ - Charles Spurgeon
“In his sovereign goodness, he has chosen suffering as a path to glory.”
“Living in light of eternity moves me towards hope, and that's what lament has done. It has been that vehicle by which I move towards hope.”
“I’ve found that when I do the honest and hard work of lament, it keeps me from passing pain on to others because it helps me to express my pain before the Lord and to receive his comfort. But it also does something to my praise. There is an authentic praise that comes from the depth of suffering that is unlike any other praise.”
“There is a theology of suffering that runs through the black church, as I have experienced it, that definitely points to praise. It doesn’t forget the suffering. It doesn’t try to, as one of my dear professors Jaren Barrs, says it doesn't seek to heal our wounds lightly, but it accesses that pain and allows that pain to push us to greater praise.”
“I’ve been in the depths and have received the Lord’s comfort in my own brokenness and my own pain. So now, I’m able to extend that with a whole lot more grace and compassion than before. Not that I didn’t care before, but the caring is so much deeper. I think empathy requires us to access something from inside us and to have compassion for the one that is suffering.”
“Even if it’s joy, there’s more. This is just a taste. There's more joy. If there’s sorrow, this sorrow is working something in you. There’s more.”
“We’ve been conditioned to believe that what is visible is more real than what is unseen, and that’s just not biblical. We are told we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal.”
“There is a freedom and a joy that I lose when I forget the eternal purpose of my work - that Christ, who is building his church, is sometimes pleased to use my hands to do it. When I put that in the wrong order, then I lose that joy. I’m not building anything of any value without him. There’s great joy for me only when my work is a worship to him.”
“The Lord hasn’t once called me to something that I could do on my own.”
“What I am taking into eternity is a hope that will be fully recognized and fully realized when I see Jesus face to face.”
“When I consider that scene where every tribe, every tongue, every nation… it’s almost more than I can comprehend...I get lost in thinking about what it looks like to be radically free from sin, and to be among every tribe, tongue, and nation… What it does it is creates a longing for me that usually ends in a ‘Come, Lord Jesus.’”
“Doing the messy work of community can also create some of that longing. Practically, being a part of that community and doing that work can shape our hearts and set our hearts and our affections towards eternity.”
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
2 Corinthians 1:3-5
1 John 3:2
SIMPLE JOYS
A cup of hot, loose leaf tea
A good book - a memoir or biography (Mom & Me & Mom by Maya Angelou)
Nature - mountains, stars, ocean, walks with the family
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How does living with eternity in view change the way you walk through the joys and sorrows of this life?
How does fixing your eyes on eternity change how you engage with and encourage other believers who are walking through various joys and sorrows?
How does understanding God’s character affect how you journey through life?
What are some passages of Scripture that help you to fix your eyes on eternity?
What are you going to do or implement as a result of what you’ve learned this week?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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