As I am writing this, I am sitting in a coffee shop looking out the window.
Outside, a train is passing by through the town center. Old fashioned, yet classy. I wish I could take a picture and show you all, because between the snow, thin dark trees, old fashioned train station, and setting sun, it looks awesome. Just awesome.
Why am I talking about a train?
This train has been going by for at least the last 30 minutes.
Oh, it's gone now...
Anyway. That was a LONG train. And it wasn't even going slow. 30 minutes of one train passing. Wow.
What on earth does that have to do with anything, and why am I babbling on about a very long train?
I've been thinking about time. Eternity. Continuum. (No, not the John Mayer album.)
I love a good ending. A solid ending that ties up all the loose ends. It doesn't necessarily have to be a happy ending per se, just one that really closes the book, so to speak. The lights dim, the credits roll, that's it.
I hate it when things drag on...and on...and on... And before you know you've just sat through all 4 hours of 'Gods and Generals' and you want to throw yourself out of the theater, screaming, 'WHY?!'
Sorry. Personal childhood trauma. I love movies typically, but Gods and Generals is an exception.
Back on topic. (Oh look, the train is back now! Both my train of thought and the afore-mentioned train.)
I like solid endings. I like conclusions.
So, I get kind of baffled at the promise of Eternity in Heaven after the Second Coming.
Part of me is like, 'What am I going to DO for eternity???'
Honestly, the idea of dying doesn't scare me. You live life, credits roll, the end. I sometimes find the idea of eternity more perplexing.
Eternity is a concept completely beyond our grasp. As fallen humans, we cannot comprehend what eternity actually means. In our world, we think in time. We think linearly.
So, there's not an end. It just keeps going.
That's one of the things I find some fascinating about God- We will have an ETERNITY with him and we will never learn everything there is to know about Him. We will have an ETERNITY with Him and never get tired of it. In fact, we're going to love it.
Which confuses me, since I barely made it through a 4 hour documentary without screaming in frustration and boredom.
Me? I'm never going to get bored? I'm not only going to be satisfied, but constantly in a state of amazement and excitement?
There's a saying that says 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder.' But that's not how it's going to work with God. To say 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder' is so very linear in thinking, so very human.
But in a world where time will not exist in the sense we think of it, and in a world where we will be constantly captivated by God, that doesn't apply.
Kind of mind-boggling, huh?
Not only will we never suffer again when He returns, we will never be BORED again.
It's like being a goldfish. Memory span of 3 seconds, so constantly seeing everything for the first time. Every time a goldfish sees something, it's technically the first time that goldfish has ever seen it.
I'm not saying we'll be reduced to the mental capacity of goldfish. Far from it.
But the fact that we will be able to be surprised and awed for an Eternity is...
Wow.
That's big.
That's exciting.
That sounds like a real adventure.
So does that mean there is no conclusion? Does that mean that there is no real 'stopping place'? No, human reincarnation isn't real. But the Bible promises that God's people will exist with Him in Eternity.
Eternity isn't just a place, it's a way.
They will exist with Him IN His eternity, as offered to us as a gift. It's a way. It's a form of existence. Unending, I guess.
AND, to top it off, God's people will exists with Him in ETERNITY. It's a place too. We are going to be in the same place as God, our Father, our King.
We are going to be in the same place as Him, and we'll be with Him in that place forever.
There is no more death, therefore there is no more 'the end'.
The Roman philosopher Athanacius referred to the death as 'the great offense' against God's creation. "Death was undoing what God had made." Death, the introduction of linear time into Creation.
So God will be pulling out the ending.
Christians so commonly refer to the Second Coming as a kind of finale, a kind of end. But the truth is, it's the real beginning. It's when life will ACTUALLY start. When things will be the way they are supposed to be, and they'll stay that way.
I admit, the idea of Eternity baffles me. Confuses me. Almost worries me, even.
But God has asked me to attend, and I'm in absolutely no position to say 'no' to an invitation from the creator of the universe itself. When God calls, we go.
This linear world will eventually end. Not to sound like a doomsday prophet, but we only have until then to decide whether or not we will take His invitation and be willing to join him.
In the words of CS Lewis, 'Christianity, if true, is of every importance, and if false, of no importance. What it cannot be is moderately important.'
This is something you have to make a decision on. This can't be put off until later. This will be THE MOST important choice of your life.
In the words of the band Reilly, 'We are running on limited time, sleep-walking half our lives.'
In the words of Jack Shephard from LOST, 'If we don't live together, we're going to die alone.'
This is an encouragement-
Seek truth. If you are looking for answers, dig. You will find them. Rather, He will find you. Matters of the soul can't be put off for a later date.
You have an open invitation from your Father who loves you to join Him. All you have to do is ask Him into Your life.
It sounds cheesy, but it's the best decision I ever made. Or He made for me. (We can have a debate about predestination in Eternity.)
Christmas is soon. The Christimas story is pivotal because it is about the introduction of Eternity into a linear world, a collision between forms of existence and power.
Much love to you all, brothers and sisters. God bless, and merry Christmas. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4tcRlHY-3Q
