Age to Come

. . . but also in the age to come . . . 

 - From Ephesians 1

I wish we all could think more about this concept of eternity. If eternity is real, then wouldn't this present age, in comparison, be kind of "not real"?

Now, we obviously are real . . . we can observe, see, hear, touch one another. But relative to the eternal,  a life that ends in death can only recede into relative unimportance, as the never-ending moment lasts.

Paul makes a point, here and elsewhere, to remind us of this reality. God is great, God is good. But that's just here and now, in this time and place. God will continue to be good and great in the age to come . . . that is . . . He is good and great, forever.

We've got to put it all in perspective. Our politics, our broken families, our bucket lists . . . these are all either unnecessary, or unimportant, when looked at through the lens of eternity.

Now, the path to eternal life does indeed include worry, anger, disappointment, and even financial reverses, health problems, and in the end, death itself. I am not calling for a "devil-may-care" attitude towards serious problems. We will always be required to care for others and treat them like they matter. But in terms of how we respond to the problems of life, ourselves, if we perhaps tried to place it into an eternal context, we may decide that we can, indeed, persevere through heretofore insurmountable barriers.

The "eternal perspective is like dieting, or exercise, or prayer. It is not a thing we do naturally. We must constantly remind ourselves: There's way more to this than I can see.