“…He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, New Living Translation).
In the beginning, God created man in His own image and after His likeness. Because God is eternal, and we are made in His likeness, it follows that there must be something that relates to eternity in man’s make up. As the scriptures say, eternity is actually planted in the human heart. To be mindful of eternal things therefore is to be true to our nature at creation. On the other hand, to be unmindful of eternal things or to make light of eternal truths is to do contrary to man’s original nature. Whichever attitude we have, eternal consequences will follow.
The man who God used to pen the Bible verse we are looking at today had engaged himself in seeking every other thing in this world apart from eternity. He consequently became a very successful individual by every human standard. He was the wealthiest man of his time, a great wise king that other kings ran to for counsel, an unparalleled player in the women game, and of course an outstanding scholar. After a long life of superlative enjoyment, he came to an amazing conclusion, summarized in his famous words – “vanity of vanities; all is vanity”. The sad thing is that thousands of years after, man is yet to hear Solomon, the preacher.
Eternity! It is true that eternity seems so far away but we know that it will come one day. It is also true that we must live and enjoy today first before tomorrow comes, but we must know that eternity is as certain as today. Therefore, every sensible human being ought to be mindful of where he would spend eternity. God wants us to view things from eternal perspective, and use time to prepare for eternity because, as a friend would always say, whatever we do in time echoes in eternity.
And someone might wonder, just how long is eternity? The best illustration I can give is as follows. Scientists speak of the 'googol'. It is figure one, followed by 100 zeros. How many years would that be? The googol is inconceivably large. But then think of the 'googolplex' which we believe is the googol raised to the power of a googol. Any mathematics professor in the house to help us calculate how many years that would be, and how many googolplexes are conceivable? It is said, that if this number were to be written out, there would not be space on earth to contain the pages required. In fact, they would more than fill our galaxy! But when the so-called 'googolplexes' are ended, we probably would just be finishing the first day of eternity.
You don't want to spend that length of immeasurable time in regrets, sorrow and pain, do you? No, you shouldn't because God has made provision for you to have a blissful eternity. But it's a choice that you must wilfully take. Remember that God "has planted eternity in the human heart". Our responsibility then it is to cultivate and nurture this divine planting so that it will yield for us the fruit of eternal joy, love and peace with God for ever and ever. You go about making that quality choice, first by making Jesus the Lord of your life, and by reordering your priorities in life.
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The man who God used to pen the Bible verse we are looking at today had engaged himself in seeking every other thing in this world apart from eternity. He consequently became a very successful individual by every human standard. He was the wealthiest man of his time, a great wise king that other kings ran to for counsel, an unparalleled player in the women game, and of course an outstanding scholar. After a long life of superlative enjoyment, he came to an amazing conclusion, summarized in his famous words – “vanity of vanities; all is vanity”. The sad thing is that thousands of years after, man is yet to hear Solomon, the preacher.
Eternity! It is true that eternity seems so far away but we know that it will come one day. It is also true that we must live and enjoy today first before tomorrow comes, but we must know that eternity is as certain as today. Therefore, every sensible human being ought to be mindful of where he would spend eternity. God wants us to view things from eternal perspective, and use time to prepare for eternity because, as a friend would always say, whatever we do in time echoes in eternity.
And someone might wonder, just how long is eternity? The best illustration I can give is as follows. Scientists speak of the 'googol'. It is figure one, followed by 100 zeros. How many years would that be? The googol is inconceivably large. But then think of the 'googolplex' which we believe is the googol raised to the power of a googol. Any mathematics professor in the house to help us calculate how many years that would be, and how many googolplexes are conceivable? It is said, that if this number were to be written out, there would not be space on earth to contain the pages required. In fact, they would more than fill our galaxy! But when the so-called 'googolplexes' are ended, we probably would just be finishing the first day of eternity.
You don't want to spend that length of immeasurable time in regrets, sorrow and pain, do you? No, you shouldn't because God has made provision for you to have a blissful eternity. But it's a choice that you must wilfully take. Remember that God "has planted eternity in the human heart". Our responsibility then it is to cultivate and nurture this divine planting so that it will yield for us the fruit of eternal joy, love and peace with God for ever and ever. You go about making that quality choice, first by making Jesus the Lord of your life, and by reordering your priorities in life.
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