Eternity in Mind

Lately, it seems, there’s been a constant reminder (through song) about how, maybe, some things last forever. Luke Combs sings, “A love like that makes a man have second thoughts…maybe some things last forever after all” while the cast of Frozen 2 sings, “Some things never change…and I'm holding on tight to you.” That’s an interesting contrast to the constantly changing world we often see around us.
But it’s interesting, because despite the fact that these two songs are from drastically different genres, they emphasize something similar: relationships. And maybe in particular the love in those relationships.
And we all know how relationships change and ebb and flow throughout our lives, right? Look back just five years ago: are any of your relationships exactly the same they were? I mean, maybe a few, but usually our relationships go through life experience just like we do and some are strengthened while others seem to be weakened. And there’s a million different reasons why those relationships change, but we know that, in the midst of all that change, we long for permanence.
That’s ultimately what those songs are about, right? We all want to have those relationships where things last forever and that some things never change. In fact, one of the wisest men to ever live, King Solomon, wrote in Ecclesiastes 3.11, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (ESV) We were created with the intention that we would live forever. That was God’s plan.
However, our choices and sin changed that plan, at least to an extent. But we still have that innate desire for permanence, and ultimately, for eternity. That’s why we fear the unknown. That’s why we fear death.
And that realization should lead us to living with the goal of eternity in mind, right? I mean, if we lived each day only considering each day, then we’d make very different decisions. I wouldn’t have a savings account. I wouldn’t plant a garden. We all live, at least to a certain extent, that tomorrow will come and that we’ll have a future. But not all of us live like we have an eternity to prepare for. And, most importantly, the eternal aspect that is our relationship with God.
Imagine you have to spend forever with one person. Would you rather spend forever with someone you don’t know at all and haven’t met or would you rather be there with a person who you know well and who you can trust with everything? And that’s really what this life is all about: preparing for forever. It means focusing on our relationship with God, above all else, so that our life on earth flows easily into forever. God bless.