He has put eternity in our hearts

https://odb.org/2024/04/05/now-and-forever

Ecclesiastes is indeed a peculiar wisdom book in the Bible as Solomon seemed to say everything is vanity or meaningless. Except for one thing, and that is knowing God. Thus, we live and die. We work hard to earn a living. We start a family and raise children. We have possessions. But we can bring nothing over to the other side when we die, and most of us will not live more than 80 or 90 years. There is a constant tension in humans to have a balance – we need to save for the rainy day and yet not too much. Someone advocated that our wealth is not really ours until we are willing to spend our children’s inheritance!

But then God has put eternity in our hearts. We are made in the image of God. That is why we don’t think our lives will really end when we die. We won’t just fade away into nothingness. Most, if not all, religions believe in some sort of judgment after we die. An opportunity to give a good account of ourselves or be condemned for our evil deeds while on earth. I believe heaven and hell, eternal life and everlasting damnation are all real. These are not concepts created by man to keep humanity in check on a high moral ground. Our souls live on when we die, and there will be a time of reckoning.

But if we believe in Jesus Christ, His blood saves us from the Great White Throne judgment of God. We need not go through that as we are justified by our faith in Christ. We will nevertheless need to face Christ Himself, our Lord and Saviour, in the Judgment Seat of Christ (also called the Bema judgment). We still need to give an account of who we have become after knowing God. Have we been faithful servants of God? More importantly, have we fulfilled His plans and purposes for our lives? Or did we waste our entire Christian life doing nothing for God, just giving in to the desires of our flesh? We may not have the ability to decide where and who we are born as, but we certainly have all the power in the world to decide who we are as believers of Christ! God has called us to be His own. Are we living a life worthy of God’s grace?

He has put eternity in our hearts indeed. There is life after death. There will be a new heaven and a new earth. Eden will be recreated. Will we have our own corner in eternal life? Will we have our inheritance in the saints? Will we obtain the prize that Christ has prepared for us as we had fought the good fight and finished the race? The choice is very much ours to make.