Eternity is a long time

I spent the weekend on a retreat at a Christian camp in New Hampshire. I had a really nice time, and spent some really good quality time in prayer and solitude with the Lord.  The speaker was a wiry woman from Pennsylvania with an enthusiasm and passion for the Word was infectious. Although I appreciated her message and thought she was biblical in her retelling of the story of Joseph, I did disagree on a few things she said. One of them was that " the most important thing in life is where you spend eternity, because eternity is a LONG, LONG,LONG, time." I'm glad eternity is a long time, because I need a lot of time now to change how I am living. Although I agree Jesus died so we can spend eternity with Him, it is not the only reason. The Bible says that while Jesus was dying on the cross, God was in Him ,reconciling Himself to the world.  Jesus died to change us. He died so that we, who were born in His image, can glorify His name and bring His Kingdom to those who have not seen it.
He not only died so that we can go to heaven, but also to change how we live in the here and now.  Otherwise we could live however we want in this life as long as we say a prayer to solidify our ticket to heaven. If I don't care enough about how I'm living now, why would I care if I spend eternity with a God who does care?