If eternity doesn’t exist, then there really is no point to our lives. There, I said it. This is something I thought about as a high school student trying to make sense of the world around me. I remember thinking, well what they are teaching in schools is true, then what is the difference if I live to be 18 or 80? If I am to meet the same end anyway, then what does it matter?
There is a popular sentiment in our culture that is driven by the idea of being remembered. The people who are seeking their own glory in being remembered do not understand their own futility; people who do not believe in eternity, yet want to be remembered are contradiciting themselves. What does it matter if their end is nothing and all of the people who could be potentially remembered them’s end is nothing? Praise be to God that it is not this way; eternity is awaiting all of us as Image Bearers of God. The fact that we can conceptualize the idea of eternity proves that it is there. This is not simply a logical and philosophical issue, but a heart issue.
“THE FACT THAT WE CAN CONCEPTUALIZE THE IDEA OF ETERNITY PROVES THAT IT IS TRUE.”
Ever feel like you are backsliding? Ever feel like you are spinning your wheels and wasting time? There are times when we cannot understand ourselves or what we do. This sentiment is reflected by Romans 7:15-19 where Paul writes, “For what I am doing, I do not understand . . . For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:15-19).
Accordingly, it is not about the temporal struggles or the misunderstandings stirred up by the flesh, but about Spirit-led living and trust. We cannot get caught in the web of envy or snapped in the snare of regret over wasted time. There is no reason to envy, for no two people face the same circumstances. There is no reason to waste time thinking about wasted time. In the scope of eternity, there is no such thing as wasted time. Everything that you have gone through has shaped you into the person that you are today. Some seasons of your life may have felt painstakingly unproductive, but that does not mean that it was wasted time; you learn from such a time.
We all walk differently. There are healthy gaits and their are unhealthy gaits (hip drop). We have freedom here. We have freedom in Christ, but that freedom ought not be abused. No matter how your march looks, keep your minds fixed on things above; keep marching towards eternity (1 Timothy 6:12).
