Philip Yancey writes:

We find it difficult to maintain a commitment to both this world and the next, to this life and the next.

A friend of mine uses the analogy of a busload of tourists en route to the Grand Canyon. On the long journey across the wheat fields of Kansas and through the glorious mountains of Colorado, the travelers inexplicably keep the shades down. Intent on the ultimate destination, they never even bother to look outside.

As a result, they spend their time arguing over such matters as who has the best seat and who's taking too much time in the bathroom.

The church can resemble such a bus, says my friend. We should remember that the Bible has far more to say about how to live during the journey than about the ultimate destination.

Some people of faith tend to be either/or. …

[But] the world does not need either/or people…. Rather, we need both/and Christians, people devoted to God's creatures and God's children as well as to God, and as committed to this life as to the afterlife, to this city as to the heavenly city.