This physical world will soon be burned up, melted with fervent heat and dissolved (2 Pe 3:7-13) but God's world will continue to exist. God's faithful children have always understood this truth and sought for a heavenly country (He 11:13-16). Abraham "looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (He 11:8-10). Our hearts should be entwined with God's world, not this world. "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 Jn 2:15-17) and is not following his eternal purpose. If we learn to love spiritual things, we will not lose them when we leave this world. Jesus encouraged his disciples to put their faith and hope in the heavens where he has gone (Jn 14:1-3), not on this earth (Col 3:1,2). The race and the mark we are striving for is part of God's eternal world.