Eternity

"He has also set eternity in the human heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

We have two pets: a lovable mutt (Hershey) and an anti-social guinea pig (Sparkle). They are very different in personality (Hershey practically demands that you pet her all the time while Sparkle would just rather you did not), but they have one thing in common: they both want fed. Often and regularly. And they both do something I've found rather strange. They start asking for more food even when there is food still in their bowl.

Now, neither of them have ever gone without food. They've always had enough. But there seems to be something hardwired into their instincts that tells them there may not be another meal coming. And so they both leave some in their bowl and then ask for more. The little left in the bowl, I presume, is just in case they don't get anything more today.

They both have a singular focus: the present moment. What's happening now and what meal is coming next. Not much sense of the past and only one real worry about the future: the next meal.

There are times, I think, it would be nice to able to fully live in the present moment, with no regrets in the past and no worries for the future. But, the Teacher reminds us, God has not made us that way. He has, we're told, set "eternity in the human heart." We have a focus bigger than just "now." We have a future and a hope (cf. Jeremiah 29:11).

A bit further down, the Teacher seems to forget what he wrote about eternity, because he returns to his refrain of "meaningless" as he talks about the fate of human beings and the fate of animals. "The same fate awaits them both," he says. "All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return" (3:19-20). Surely he has forgotten what he just wrote! The fate is not the same. The distinction for human beings is simply this: eternity. God has put eternity in our hearts. He has made us for eternity. Even though these bodies will not last forever, there is still something hardwired within us that knows there has to be more than this. That's why the Bible promises God is preparing a new body for us, one fit to live forever. God has set eternity in our hearts.

Jesus came to show us the way to that eternity. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6), he said. Scholars debate the nuances of that verse (though the meaning seems fairly clear), but this we know: the guaranteed way to eternity is through Jesus. Jesus came, lived and died so that we might live, so the the longing for eternity which God has placed in our hearts might be fulfilled.

Does your heart yearn for eternity? That yearning—God put it there. Listen to the way one songwriter describes that longing. The video below is from Canadian artist Carolyn Arends...allow it to lead you to worship and thanksgiving.