I have heard several times, especially in books, television, and movies, that what makes life, love, and friendship so precious is that they are finite. So they are to be enjoyed in the moment, knowing they pass. This sounds true if you live according to Ecclesiastes, “under the sun.” It is true in a way, I should say, if your life’s focus is here and now and on how things are. The problem with this is the same as the writer of Ecclesiastes sees that everything in this world is vanity, a vapor, and passing. The problem is it's a lie.
It is true that if we have eternal life in this fallen world, it would be little more than hell on earth. The truth we don’t want to accept is that life isn’t fleeting; it is eternal. Yes, human life is, but we are going to live beyond this life. In fact, part of what will make hell what it is is that we will be there forever, unchanging, and the horror that people see in living forever will be very real. I will note I am not denying eternal punishment, but I am saying that from what I see, the ongoing hell of hell will be us. God will give us what we have chosen all of our lives ourselves, and we won’t like it.
The good news is that God has created a way for us to have a life where love, friendship, and all we understand as truly good can last for an eternity. It will be in a place where eternal life is so different from now that eternal life will be heaven. Eternal life will be a blessing and not a curse. It is true because God is and will transform his people and the world into a place where His people will see that life is truly wonderful because it doesn’t end. Love is great because it is infinite, not finite. It might be hard to fathom, but it might be similar to a small child seeing an adult book, it has no picture, maybe none on the cover, and it is huge, it goes on forever (anything over 50 pages for a four-year-old would qualify). To sit and read it for hours would be for that four-year-old a sentence of death (maybe for some adults too, but follow my logic here). Yet for those who love reading, a big well well-written book is a joy, and being able to read (or listen for my audio fans) for hours is a gift. It’s a gift that the four-year-old can’t imagine, but if they are trained to love books, then they will find the joy, and what looked like torture is wonder and joy. If you're not a reading person, think about watching sports or racing for hours (I’m not this person).
At the end of the day, I believe that this idea that love and life are best when finite cheats those things. It also sells those who long for them a bill of goods that will keep them from seeking love and life, which isn’t finite. It tries to convince them they are good where they are. As I said, it’s a lie.
What makes friendship, love, and life so great is that they can be eternal. We may not be getting that version now, but it’s out there.
Photo by Angely Acevedo on Unsplash
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