There is one sure-fire route to a wasted life: measure yourself and your efforts according to the standards of this world. In other words, focus on the physical, the temporal, and the unimportant.

Too many times when tragedies or calamities occur, people rush to God with anger or rejection, as though our fallen human interpretation of events can somehow be more just or righteous than God's. On the contrary, during times other than difficult ones, people become seduced by the shiny objects of distraction and pleasure which are so abundant in this life.

But suffering or success cannot be measured according to any of the standards of this world. If this life is all there is, then the suffering around us and in us can only be seen as unfair, as it rains on the just and the unjust alike. If this life is all there is, then material possessions and physical gratification are a mean trick which not only fall short of the pleasures they promise to bring, but rob us of the happiness that sent us off in pursuit of them in the first place.

People have always demanded justice in this world, only to discover it an exercise as constructive as grasping at smoke. People have likewise consistently pursued pleasure, only to find it a mirage the promises refreshment but leaves one thirsting for the real thing. What we find is that our physical perspective leaves us short of the mark every time and in every case.

Then how is one to properly interpret events? What value system accurately measures our lives?

The answer is one that we don't always want to hear, but deep down inside, we know it is what we really need and have actually been seeking all along: the proper perspective is a spiritual one.

If we measure our success not according to the treasures of this world, but according to those we have laid up in heaven, we will have little concern for the ups and downs of our own material situations. If we interpret suffering with an understanding of our eternal position in God's plan, knowing that to live is Christ and to die is gain, we will remember that there may be no justice in this life, but on the judgment day justice will be meted out each according to his own. 

That last part, however, should scare us! True justice? Is that really what we want?

Again, we can only answer in the affirmative if we use a worldly, physical value system that somehow attributes more virtue to us than to others. But the Bible is clear that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None are righteous, no not one. If we really demand justice, we will be just as susceptible to its punishments as everyone else.

From a spiritual perspective, however, God reveals to us that He is merciful. Although He is entirely just, and promises that it is appointed to each man once to die, and then the judgment, He also has a plan for salvation to those who walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh. Yes, He will spare those that lived their lives for Him, in the name of Jesus Christ, rather than living it for themselves. In that day we shall find, that those who sought to save their lives (through living for self and becoming consumed in a material world, measuring themselves with the yardstick of worldly values) will lose them, while those who lost their lives (through living for Christ and serving others, measuring themselves with the yardstick of eternal life and spiritual truth) will gain them.

It is a comparison of a fleeting, physical perspective to an eternal, spiritual one. 

Be sure that you are using the correct standard when measuring your life. 

Eternity is long time to be wrong.