The Error of Our Life: Why Holiness Offends and Comfort Deceives

Francis Chan once stood on a stage holding a long white rope that stretched across the floor and disappeared into the distance. At the very end, a small section was wrapped in red tape.

“This red part,” he said, “represents your life on earth. You’ve got a few short years here—and then comes eternity.”

He ran his fingers along that tiny red tip.

“This is where you get your house. This is where you retire. This is where you travel. You save, you plan, you hustle—for this.” Then he lifted the rest of the rope stretching far beyond the stage.

“This goes on forever,” he said. “And most people live for this—the red part.”

The image stuck with me because it names the disease beneath so much modern anxiety: perspective collapse.

When eternity is eclipsed, the temporal becomes absolute.We panic over what was never meant to be permanent.

Our stress, striving, and obsession with control all reveal a world that’s forgotten forever.

The Error of Our Life

“Do not invite death by the error of your life,nor bring on destruction by the works of your hands.”— Wisdom 1:12

The Wisdom of Solomon exposes that same deception.The writer describes those who reason unsoundly:

“Short and sorrowful is our life… let us enjoy the good things that exist…let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.” (Wis 2:1–8)

At first, it sounds almost admirable—realistic, even responsible: life is short, enjoy it.But underneath that reasoning lies despair:

“For our name will be forgotten in time.” (2:4)

This is the error of our life: when we mistake transience for truth.When we live as though the red tip is all there is.It’s not rebellion; it’s reduction—the shrinking of eternity into a single anxious moment.

The Covenant with Death

“Ungodly men by their words and deeds summoned death…they made a covenant with him.” (Wis 1:16)

The “covenant with death” isn’t a pagan ritual—it’s the quiet bargain of self-protection.It’s what happens when we organize our lives around survival instead of surrender.When comfort becomes our gospel and control becomes our god.

We baptize it with language that sounds wise:

“I’m just being practical.”“I have to look out for myself.”“I’m just playing it safe.”

But it’s the same reasoning Wisdom calls unsound.Because the moment we start building for comfort instead of communion, we’ve stopped living for eternity.

The irony is tragic:the more we clutch the red tip,the less peace we have.We call it wisdom—but it’s worry in disguise.

The Offense of Holiness

“Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us…the very sight of him is a burden.” (Wis 2:12–15)

Holiness offends not because it condemns, but because it reminds.

It reintroduces eternity into a world addicted to immediacy.It exposes how small our “big plans” really are.

The person who lives for forever will always unsettle those who live for the moment.

The saint is a mirror the world can’t bear to look into—because holiness reveals how temporary comfort has become an idol.

The righteous are “inconvenient” because they live free.They expose the deception we’ve made peace with:that happiness without holiness is possible.

The Focus of the Saints

Paul captured the antidote to perspective collapse:

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:14)

Francis Chan ended his message with that same conviction.

“I’m going to live this out,” he said.“I’m going to face Him. I’m going to come before the Judge,and He’s going to hand me that trophy.You better believe I’m using every muscle to cross that line well.”

That’s not fear—it’s focus.

Not striving—it’s surrender.It’s the awareness that holiness is not escape from the world, but participation in eternity.

Holiness trains the heart to love what lasts.

Living in the Light of Forever

Eternal life doesn’t begin when we die—it begins when we stop living for the red tip.

When the infinite love of God stretches through every finite moment.When perspective restores peace.

So don’t invite death by the error of your life.Don’t live small. Don’t plan your eternity around your anxiety.

Live like forever is real—because it is.And when the world calls you foolish for it, smile.

“For righteousness is immortal.” (Wis 1:15)

In Christ, the rope never ends.