Eternity Is A Long Time

I remember when I was about 8 years old, sitting in church listening to my Pastor teach; and he said, "Just imagine what eternity will be like." So I did, I closed my eyes, and I thought about five years into my future, then I stretched my mind to think ten, then twenty, then one-hundred years into my future. I stopped to consider just how far away that was. How much would change, how much would exist then, that doesn't exist now, who would be alive, who wouldn't. It kind of scared me to consider. 

Then I began to think past that, doing my best to imagine forever. Trying to imagine thousands of years into the future, taking into consideration, that thousands of years was but a wisp of time in light of eternity. 

As I tried to imagine eternity, I began to have this feeling of falling. My mind was so incapable of wrapping around the concept of eternity, and it started to really scare me. There was no end. There was no finality. There was no way to understand it. 

I couldn't handle this deep contemplative journey my Pastor had sent me on, so I started playing hangman with my friend instead. 

When we stop to consider the idea of eternity it is easy to become overwhelmed or even intimidated. 

Yet the Bible tells us to focus on eternal things rather than the temporary. 

2 Corinthians 4:18 "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 

So why would we want to focus on something that scares us?

There was a major component that was missing from my thought process as a young kid; I think many who struggle when considering eternity, are missing this too.

The power of eternity isn't about massive amounts of time that will pass by.  

The power of eternity is WHO we will spend eternity with. 

As I spiraled out of control when I was 8, trying to wrap my mind around eternity, I was focused on the time passing. I didn't consider that God would be with me during that time. 

So instead of being thrown off by this passage in 2 Corinthians, we should be encouraged.

Here is what this passage is saying...

Instead of focusing on the challenges we see in our world today, our lack, our needs, our pain, we need to focus on what is unseen. We need to focus on what is eternal, God, and His never ending love for us. 

So I extend the challenge my Pastor passed on to me those years ago, "Imagine what eternity will be like." 

But allow me to make this small change. 

"Imagine what eternity will be like, with a God who loves you, and let that happy thought cover any worries you may have about today."