Can anyone grasp the idea of eternity?

An impatient child stood beside me jumping up and down and anxious for an event to start. I said to her parent that children have a two-fold concept of time: now and eternity. We laughed and the child said no, it was all now. Without realizing it, she expressed something about God.

The human experience is locked in time and most of us cannot imagine ‘forever’ or endless. For a waiting child, a few minutes might seem like eternity and sometimes adults experience moments they wish could last forever, but only God lives outside of time. For Him, everything is now. He sees past, present and future all at the same time. That is beyond my mental ability, but I wonder if that excited child has a better imagination!

Reading again in Ephesians, I noticed this understanding of time/eternity in these verses:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4–10)

In time, the past held me in the deadness of sin. In forever, God loves me. In the now, I am made alive in Christ. In eternity I am already raised and seated with Christ in heaven. In the future, He will show me the riches of His grace, the grace that saved me in the past. He recreated me to do good works in the present, yet God prepared these works in the past (the past in my mind) which is eternity in His mind.

To say this in another way, God knew all about me before I was born and after I die. Before and after are human terms, not eternal terms. God saw it all before time began. I scarcely can wrap my head around these ideas, yet one day (a human term) I will see things as God sees them and time will be no more. In the meantime, I have things to do today!

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Jesus, Your thoughts for me today are deeply mysterious. Nevertheless, the concept of eternity is richly pleasant to think about. So also are the other truths expressed in this passage. You are rich in mercy and great love, a love that is always and forever present. You changed my life so You could eventually show me the richness that I struggle to fully see right now. You give me work to do that gives now a rich meaning. My heart is joyful at the idea of eternity with You, an eternity that has no beginning or end — an eternity I can glimpse, taste, grasp in a little bit because it is not only future but also right now.

Today’s thankful list . . .

Eternal life in Jesus Christ.

A grand day and a lovely walk in the sunshine and fresh air.

Our medical system.

Asian sticky chicken, yum.

Fresh and juicy peaches.

Nearly finished another quilt.

Good friends who love to pray with me.

The guy who goes around the neighborhood pulling weeds.