ENJOYING ETERNITY WITH GOD He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV) When I was young I couldn’t fathom the concept of an exciting heaven. I was told we would worship Jesus forever like the angels. To me that sounded like a horribly boring life. I could not comprehend finding pleasure in worshipping God or praying to Him for an eternity. For me, worship was just old music accompanied by a middle-aged woman pounding on a tambourine; and prayer merely concentrating on trying to concentrate on God, and always failing. But there comes a time for all of us to grow up and come to terms with the message of eternity. For God “has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Our chief end is to glorify God, and we should enjoy that. In fact, we have a mistaken view of our purpose if we don’t. God spared nothing, and has withheld no good thing, He’s given us even His Son to die in our stead. When David wrote for us to, “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4a ESV), he wasn’t writing it to sound religious. Religion cannot enjoy God, it can only fear Him from a distance. As a kid I saw God through the cold eyes of religion, and viewed prayer and worship as labors to earn favor instead of drawing near to the Fountain of Life. I believe our fundamental obstacle to enjoying God and learning to delight in Him is the merit based system we often find ourselves in as modern Christians. Our “love” for God, His word, and His truth are usually little more than things we know we should be proclaiming. Our religion diminishes the Gospel and Jesus by subtly conveying that His spilled blood and resurrection are simply not enough; he is not sufficient. Though this is taught nowhere in Scripture I’ve lived most of my life in bondage to this heresy, and it has drained the life out of my spirit, and sapped the vitality of my soul. When we arrive in “paradise”, as Jesus called it (Luke 23:43), we will experience ever increasing joy. We will never say again, “It was fun while it lasted”, for our joy in the Creator will be without end.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 01:41:07 +0000
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