Tag: eternity

Lent 2022 | Day 11: Mercy

Mercy has often been defined as not getting what we truly deserve. I find this to be a helpful definition. But it only paints a part of the picture.

The Christian life calls us to look at the world around us through new eyes. It is an intentional effort to re-program our thinking to be more consistent with the character of God. But this can be challenging. Oftentimes in more ways than one. Our past histories and our present struggles can cloud our ability to see what God was doing and may still be at work doing.

This is why we must be a people marked by mercy. We have been the beneficiaries of God’s mercy. We have received that which we did not deserve. And more to the point that which we could never have earned.

It is an intentional effort to re-program our thinking to be more consistent with the character of God.

The grace of God gives us what we do not deserve. And that is only one side of the story. The second side, the side that we are discussing today, is what God has kept away from us. It can be easy to think at times that what God kept from us was not as bad as what we have been experiencing. But the problem is this is not true.

The penalty of sin upon us is eternal separation from God. To be completely and totally outside of the presence of God. And while there are some who would reject that hell exists, they would misunderstand what hell is in doing so. The imagery of the New Testament can be graphic and describe things that are quite horrifying. But the physical imagery of fire and of rotted flesh truly pale in comparison to the idea of being separated from God.

This permanent state of separation is the result of a complete and utter rejection of the salvation God has provided through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. To speak of God as imposing upon us for all eternity a will, a love, a grace, a mercy that we have rejected would be an indictment against God’s character.

God does not desire to force upon us what we do not desire for ourselves. But to then claim that it would be unjust for God to not allow those who chose this separation to have it is somewhat odd. Those who have stepped out of this world and into the next rejecting God are not being denied access into his presence. They are entering into the next life getting what they wanted. To regret that decision once there could be described as suffering from a form of spiritual “buyer’s remorse.”

God has given us ample time and sufficient testimony in the creation and within our own hearts to make a choice as to where we will be. If we heed the call of the gospel in repentance from sin we will not only have God’s grace applied to us but we will experience the mercy of God over us.

The relationship between God’s mercy and the subject of hell has too often been detached and even dismissed. But the reason we need not only God’s grace, which makes us ready for heaven, and God’s mercy, which changes the trajectory of our eternal destiny, is that we could address neither of these predicaments without God. When we receive God’s grace we are redeemed from the effects of sin. When we receive God’s mercy we are restored to a relationship with God from the penalty of sin.

When we understand these fundamental differences and yet related realities we will grow in our appreciation for what God has done to bring us into a closer relationship with him.

In this season may we learn to rejoice for what God has not only promised but what God has accomplished.

For this God who has been rich in mercy has rained it upon us not only generously but beyond our ability to comprehend.

4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesian 2:4-7 NKJV

Lent 2022 | Day 7: Everlasting

From everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Psalm 90:2 ESV

This is one of the more interesting descriptions of God in the Scriptures. One of the attributes of his being is that of eternality. What this describes is the idea that God has neither beginning nor end. But to our mind this concept of timelessness does not really make much sense. We can pretend to imagine what it means but we always struggle to make sense of it in its actuality.

The notion that God has no beginning and that he has no end is a key aspect of who he is. But often because it is so mysterious we struggle to see its significance. What is it that makes God’s eternality an important aspect of not only his being but also our understanding of his purposes in our lives?  The easiest way of thinking about this is to consider the fact that God’s timelessness affords him a freedom we do not possess and yet long time have.

when time ceases to be the idea of a moment will be erased. What we will be left with is an ever-present present. The very notions of past and future will cease. And what we will be left with is the intimacy of the immediate moment.

The freedom of God to be God, to not be encumbered by the effects of time, affords God the perspective on life and living unique to him. This is why when he discloses to us who he is and what he knows we should not fear our finiteness in comparison to him.

Because God is not restricted by the passage of time he does not fear, and indeed cannot fear, what will happen at the “end.” For God has no end. He has no beginning. And there is therefore nothing that hinders him from embracing the fullness of living.

The promise of eternal salvation is one of the greatest gifts God can give to us. In giving us eternal life God gives us a glimpse into what it means to see through his eyes. We have a beginning. Each of us does. But because of God’s image impressed upon our being, we can say we participate to a limited degree with this everlasting aspect of God’s being. We cannot become God or small gods. But rather we can get a taste of what it means to exist as God does. This too is a mystery. One that cannot be fully explained with human words. One that we can merely understand through allusion and comparison.

One of the wonders of the Christian faith can be found in what we are initiated into who we profess faith in Jesus Christ. And what we have been given access to as a result of our trust in the sacrifice of Christ. That mystery is the promise of everlasting life. What this fully means, and how this will be fully expressed, cannot be known until we step out of this life and into the presence of God. But even now we can get glimpses of what it means to live in God’s presence when we worship in song and in deed.

It is through these temporary enactments of daily living that we are exposed to the kind of life we will experience when we cross over from this world into the next.

The reality of the season of Lent in which we are now celebrating, we can take a moment and reflect on what is to come. The irony of this framework between time and timelessness is that when time ceases to be the idea of a moment will be erased. What we will be left with is an ever-present present. The very notions of past and future will cease. And what we will be left with is the intimacy of the immediate moment.

So while we travel life’s road and commemorate the season of reflection, my hope is that we will not lose sight of the glorious promises being fulfilled in the present moments we are passing through.

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