Mat 25:21 His master said to him, 'Well done, good and
faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over
much. Enter into the joy of your master.'
I have been thinking of late about what eternity will be
like. Of course, we are told so little
that such thoughts can be a somewhat frustrating pursuit. One of the ways that I think it can be
described is the absence of frustration which is a big consequence of the
Fall. There are a couple of ways we can
see this.
One is contentment.
While we are commanded to be content in this world we know also that to
a degree that is impossible. Much like
we are told be perfect yet it is more of a pursuit than a full reality. Hopefully as we grow in grace we are becoming
more content with what God has given us in this life but with sin all around us
and within us perfect contentment eludes us like trying to find the end of a
rainbow. Paul had no doubt learned to be
content with such things as he had but with his remaining sin and with the
struggle to help the saints grow in the Lord and with the pain and sickness
that he had to deal with and the loss of loved ones to death and so on, it is
just not possible to be perfectly content in this world.
In eternity, though, this will not be the case. Every need will be met and I suppose that
speaking of needs will no longer be necessary.
We won’t have needs that need to be met.
Existence will be continuous fulfillment; I like to use the word bliss,
continuous bliss. In Heaven we can
finally say with accuracy, “I just can’t be happier than I am right now!” We will be in the presence of God who is the
source of all life, joy and blessing and there just will never be a moment in
which we will want something that we aren’t experiencing. It is mind boggling to say the least. We don’t know very much about eternity and
what we will be doing and experiencing but we know that we can never get bored
or tired gazing upon the Lord of Glory.
The other thing I think of when I think of eternity, and it
is connected with the contentment, is anticipation. It seems to me that one of the fundamental
experiences and joys of life is anticipation.
In one sense that is what keeps us going on from day to day;
anticipating plans, dreams, goals, experiences and the like. There is always a reason to get up in the
morning, a day of work to look forward to, a relationship to enjoy, something
to accomplish. If we stop and think
about it, it seems that it plays a part in just about anything we are involved
with.
But as with contentment, anticipation in this life seldom
lives up to the hype. How many times has
the anticipation of something turned out to be a better experience than the
thing we looked forward to? Temporal
things just can’t satisfy us in any meaningful way. The days leading up to Christmas morning or
your birthday party often are more fun than when it is all over and we are off
to anticipating the next “thing”. Even
our relationships with godly loved ones fall short of what we thought they
would be to varying degrees (just ask my wife!). The reason is obvious everything on this side
of eternity is tainted with sin and maybe better said it is soaked with sin
through and through.
Now the question I wonder about is whether there will be
anticipation in eternity. My first
thought was of course there won’t be because if we are anticipating something
then it means that we don’t have everything we want and couldn’t be happy or
content. But then I wondered if perhaps
we were made that way by God as part of the human experience. So while anticipation is often frustrated by
unrealized goals, yet is looking forward to the next wonderful thing a good
thing that in itself if part of being a joyful human being?
In other words could eternity be one continuous experience
of anticipating all that God has for us and at the same time experiencing them
to utter joy and amazement and being completely satisfied? Could it be everything we reach for in this
life only without the disappointments? Is
fully realized anticipation the epitome of the human experience and that which
only God can give us?
The reason I wonder if this is perhaps at least part of it
all is because I am the world’s worst for moving from one hobby, experience,
food to another always looking for the next thing. (Well, I might not be the world’s worse but I am right up there) I remember telling my
children many times that variety is the spice of life. I think we are all wired like this to
different degrees and so I wonder if we will spend eternity all giddy with
excitement over all the things that the Lord is revealing to us of his
glory? Is it possible to be content
without something to anticipate?
Well, I guess it is all musings and speculations until then
but if anyone has something else to throw into the mix please feel free to make
a comment; even if it is to show me why I am completely off base! I am not one to speculate about the abstract
too often but I guess it is a good exercise from time to time and perhaps
better left to minds other than mine.
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