Thoughts of Eternity

Every time I see the ocean I remember an illustration that I once heard.  To help illustrate eternity someone said, “Pick up one grain of sand.  That one grain represents this life on earth.  Compare this to all of the rest of the sand on all of the beaches along all of the oceans in the world.  This represents eternity.”  This gives some sense of the perspective of eternity compared to this life.

While eternity is difficult to grasp, it is part of our very nature.  Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 3:11, He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the human heart.  We have a longing for the eternal.  This cannot be satisfied by earthly successes or earthly treasures.  This is why contentment is so difficult and happiness is so elusive.  Only eternal things can satisfy the eternal longing in our heart.  This is why only Jesus, the eternal God, can satisfy the eternal longings of our heart. 

We realize that we are created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), but we forget sometimes that this image is eternal. There is that part within all of us that will live forever.  We focus on the one grain of sand because it is what we know.  But there is so much more.  When God set eternity in our heart, this refers not only to time, but also to an eternal quality of life.  Eternal life begins the moment we receive Jesus – and then it never ends.  It takes on an eternal quality and lasts forever.

But we always need to remember one thing – the choice we make in the one grain of sand impacts how we will experience all of the rest of the grains of sand.  It is in this life that we choose our eternity.  We either choose Jesus and receive the eternal life that only he can give, or we refuse to receive Jesus which leads to an eternity of being separated from God and all that is good.

This was the message Jesus brought when he came to preach the Good News to people of all kinds.  This is the reason that we are passionate about the mission of evangelism.  May God lead us to great opportunities to share the incredible truth and power of Jesus with those who need him.

Blessings in our Eternal Savior Jesus,

Pastor Ed