Eternity is time with no end. It goes on forever into perpetuity. Eternal life is immortal life. We do not age, we don’t fall ill, decay or die. Eternity is timeless, where time ceases to exist. On the other hand, our lives on earth are governed by time. Like it or not, time rules over us and we follow it. If you don’t keep track of your time, you will miss the train, miss your graduation, be late for work, won’t make it for your own wedding and you will miss out on life. So, time helps us keep on track and catch up with yourself and others.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8)

The movie ‘In Time’ depicts a dystopian society where time is the currency and people are genetically engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday, after which they are given a year to live where they can buy more time. If they cannot afford to buy time, they are timed out and fall dead. The poor live their lives on a day to day basis. Most of them rarely have more than 24 hours on their watch, while the rich have ample of time and are almost immortal (In Time, 2011). Although it is a fictional movie, it resembles our lives in the fact that we also time out one day. Has it ever occurred to you that every passing moment reduces our lifespan and eventually we run out of time? Time never increases, it only decreases.  Our lives are in fact more disturbing than the movie. In the movie at least, the people know how much time is left and can buy more time. We on the other hand cannot purchase more time, nor do we know how long before we are going to time out. We may have a few hours or a few years, no one knows. Nevertheless, most people live their lives obliviously. 

The concept of eternity is vague for most people as they fail to understand or even think about it. Our life span compared to eternity amounts to nothing. 100 years of our life span is like a puff of vapour compared to eternity, a vapour which disappears out of sight in no time. You have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath (Psalms 39:5). In this life span, which is just a breath compared to eternity, we toil and build legacies for ourselves, which too disappears in no time. We are proud of our achievements, which are forgotten in no time. We think we have accumulated enough, but there is nothing a dead person takes with him. Everything comes to nothing, even our body decays and disappears into the earth, our bones rot and there is nothing left of us. However, the decisions we make in our lifetime will determine if we enter eternal life or perish with no hope. 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life (John 6:16 NRSV).

Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life (John 5:24 NRSV).

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27 NLT).

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23 NRSV).

These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might (2 Thessalonians 1:9 NRSV).

This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3 NRSV).

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (Mt 25:46 NRSV).

If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit (Galatians 6:8 NRSV).

For those of us who believe in Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as our Lord and Saviour, our eternity does not begin the moment we die, it began the moment we got saved. When we die, we are going to be transformed into immortal beings and live for eternity with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Therefore, we do not pursue things that are perishable, but that which is eternal, for we know this moment means nothing compared to eternity and it will soon pass away and so we pursue what is right and pleasing in the eyes of God.

If you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you enter eternal life, because you are in Christ, and just as Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, we too, who die in Him, are raised to life and enter eternal life. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you (Romans 8: 10-11 NRSV). It is easy for people to lose sight of eternal perspective because we live in the moment. We are spiritually short-sighted, for we are like the cattle that follows the herd, and wherever the majority goes, we follow blindly. I was watching National Geographic one day and I saw this herd of wildebeests migrating. While passing through they stop by a river to have a drink, but some end up becoming prey to hungry crocodiles. It is sad to see people walk into hell ignorant of the choices they made. It is sad to see so many perish because they never give a thought to eternity. It is indeed sad that people are deceived by the devil who keeps them distracted and focused on the earthly life. We are becoming into people who are ‘earthly wise, but eternally foolish’. We take care of the concerns of this life and are very engrossed with the here and now that we lose sight of eternity. People excuse themselves from everlasting life because they presently have no time. They are either too busy or have more pressing needs now. Some also say that they will give priority to God later in life. What if tomorrow never comes? Would you risk eternity because of irrelevant pressing matters that consume your time, matters that mean nothing compared to eternity?

If you believe in Jesus Christ and have received Him as your Lord and Saviour, ask Him to forgive you of all your sins and dedicate yourself to follow His teachings, you will enter eternal life. However, if you reject Him, you enter the judgement of God and go to hell. God created you in His image and likeness. He died on the cross for your sins, so that you may receive the free gift of Salvation. This gift is yours. If you want to receive it, you receive eternal life. We don’t have long to live. No one knows the hour when they will die. Do not postpone this decision to be saved. Receive the free gift of eternal life.

We live in a time where we are self-sufficient and focussed on our individuality, and this attitude draws us further away from God. Technology is good, but it cannot replace God, it has its limitations. We are intelligent beings, but we do not have answers to everything. We have made breakthrough research in medicine, prevented diseases and prolonged life, yet we cannot live indefinitely here on earth. In our arrogance we fail to realise that we are weak. We need God, for without Him, we have no identify, no life, no eternity and we return to dust from where we came, without a trace. Nothing is life will last without God. What is it that is most important in your life? Will it last forever?

The Wisdom of God

 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.  So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. (1 Corinthians 1: 18-25 NLT)

There is none like our God. Only in Him we have life. He alone is from everlasting to everlasting. There is none that can fathom or even comprehend our God. Human intelligence fails to describe God. The only way we know God, is because God has revealed Himself to us, that we may know Him and receive Him as our Lord and Saviour. It is man’s greatest failure and man’s greatest destruction, when he arrogantly says, there is no God. We realise who God is only when we come to an end of ourselves, when we realise we are nothing and God is everything, when we acknowledge that through God everything that ever existed exists. It is out of His great love that He created us, not like any insect, but in His image and in His likeness, to share eternal life with Him.

How then can we enter eternal life? If we want to enter a house, we will enter through the door, not through the window or the roof. We also need to be welcomed by those who want to let us in. Similarly, to enter eternal life, God the Father must welcome us, and He does that only through the door, which is Jesus Christ. I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9 RSV). In Jesus Christ, we know the way to eternal life, we have the truth of eternal life, and we have everlasting life. Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6 NRSV).

Life has become easier than ever before in many ways, but the way to eternal life remains tough. Many people have left the Church because they find the teachings of Jesus Christ very hard to follow. Many people expect the teachings of the Church to adjust to the views of the changing world. God does not change Himself to suit the ways of mankind. It is mankind that needs to change to God’s ways. We are becoming into Christians who are looking for convenience and we look at the Church as a convenience store, where we expect to get what we are looking for but refuse to submit to what she is asking of us and we resentfully leave because she fails to adapt to our views.

The Words of Eternal Life

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?  Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?  It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.  But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”  Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. (John 6:60-70 NRSV)

Jesus Christ alone has the words of eternal life. Even though the teachings of Jesus Christ are tough, we know that in Him alone is life, and without Him there is no life and there is nowhere else to go. Without Jesus Christ, life is unbearable here on earth and the judgement that is to come for those who reject Him is devastating. When things get tough the easiest thing people do is to leave the Church , but God gives grace to those who endure. Salvation comes to those who endure to the end and don’t give up on God and on themselves.

Today is the day salvation knocks on your door. You have today to make a life changing decision by believing and accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Today is the day you can ask and receive mercy for your sins. Today is the day you can receive the Holy Spirit and enter eternal life, because tomorrow may never come. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:15 NRSV).

 

 

References

 

In Time (2011) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1637688/

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