Eternity Pressing into Tuesday
When I was younger, I remember lying awake at night, trying to wrap my mind around the word eternal. I thought that if I pondered long enough, maybe I could find some flash of illumination—some way to finally get it. But the longer I thought, the more uneasy I became. The idea of forever began to scare me. Have you ever tried to picture eternity? Have you ever let yourself sit quietly and consider what it means that our God has no beginning?
Even now, that thought still unsettles me a little. Scripture tells us that God has always been. He never began, never was created, never came from something else. He simply is. And that alone sets Him apart. Thoughts like these remind me that God is not like us. We are made in His image, yes—but He is entirely other: holy, infinite, uncreated.
To say that God has always existed is to step into a fog our minds can’t pierce. I’m not sure if even in the New Heavens and the New Earth—with glorified minds—we’ll be able to fully grasp it. What number could ever measure forever? A hundred trillion years ago, the Father, Son, and Spirit were already delighting in one another. One hundred trillion. We can’t even imagine that.
To put it in perspective: one trillion seconds equals roughly 31,546 years. Creation scientists estimate the earth to be around 6,000 years old. That means if you counted “one-one-thousand” every second for a trillion seconds, you’d outlast the entire history of the world—five times over. And yet, even that wouldn’t scratch the surface of eternity.
So why wander so far down this trail? Because compared to eternity, 100 trillion years is a snap of the fingers. When I think about that, I feel both small and safe. Small, because He is vast beyond all measure. Safe, because this vast, uncreated God is also good—loving, merciful, holy, holy, holy.
And here’s something else I can’t shake: the human soul is also eternal—moving forward. God made us that way. That means 100 trillion years from now, you and I will still be…one of two places. One hundred trillion years will feel like a moment gone by for one and unfortunately, for the other, a choice of everlasting agony. If that’s true, shouldn’t we live today with the weight of eternity in mind? Shouldn’t we focus on the big picture?
When I worked as a therapist in a series of nursing homes, one of my favorite residents was a man who, by the world’s standards, had “lost everything.” After his wife passed away, he became a monk. I always looked forward to visiting him. Many of times this old sage ended our conversations with a grin and a twinkle in his eye, “I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff. And I’ve discovered—it’s all small stuff.”
I never forgot that. He wasn’t minimizing life; he was magnifying eternity. This man had lived a full and colorful story—he had fought and loved, made and lost money, buried his soulmate—and yet, with all of that behind him, he saw things clearly. His wisdom was simple: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Live with your eyes on the eternal.
Sometimes I think about that when I catch myself anxious about outcomes, frustrated with people, or weighed down by things that will fade in the light of forever. God presses in—and reminds me that I am designed to live out the big picture…in marriage, parenting, work, and in my complete inner life.
“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”
— Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NLT)
Maybe that’s the point. We feel eternity pressing in, but we can’t hold it. We’re meant to be humbled by it—to stand in awe, and to rest in the hands of the One who is forever.
Prayer:
Lord, help me live this Tuesday with my eyes on the eternal. Teach me to hold loosely what fades and cling tightly to what lasts forever. Amen.
