This article appears in the Fall 2025 issue of the FCA Donor Publication. The FCA publication is a gift from our FCA staff to all donors giving $50 or more annually. For more information about giving, visit here.
They say nothing lasts forever
But they ain’t seen us together
Or the way the moonlight dances in your eyes
And I know there'll be that moment
The good Lord calls one of us home and
One won’t have the other by their side
But heaven knows that that won't last too long
Maybe some things last forever after all
•Luke Combs, “Forever After All”
A great country song that makes me think of Angel, my wife, is “Forever After All” by Luke Combs. The lyrics compare the transience of things in this world — things like “Duracells in a Maglite,” “blue jeans after years of shift work” and “the strings on this guitar” — to genuine human love.
Yet nothing lasts forever in the human realm. What’s here today is gone tomorrow. Think about your own experience. What’s changed for you in your family over the last 10 years? What about the last five years? Or even since last week!
Do you live in the same place you did 10 years ago? Do you have the same job? The same bank account balance? The same haircut, clothing, hobbies and health status? Chances are, a lot has changed for you over time.
The impermanence of life certainly holds true in sports, as well. One day, a baseball player goes 4 for 5 with two home runs and six RBIs. The next day, he whiffs three times. The roster of your favorite team doesn’t look the same this year as it did last season. Even the glow of final victory quickly fades: All championship teams start the next season 0-0.
This constant change can feel jarring. Yet there is one thing we can pursue that will last forever: God’s glory. When we put away our selfish pursuits and seek to build God’s kingdom and bring Him praise in all we do, we will experience something this world can never offer us. In 1 Corinthians 9:25, Paul says, “Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown.” The word “imperishable” means enduring, not subject to decay — something that lasts forever. Imperishable glory is true glory!
What kind of glory are you chasing in life? Whose kingdom are you building in your family, work, hobbies and other activities? Are you grasping at glory that will quickly diminish like the power of a battery, the strings of a guitar or the luster of a championship trophy? Or are you pursuing the lasting glory of the eternal God who made all things, including time itself?
As Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the righthand of the throne of God.”
Shane Williamson
FCA President and CEO
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