What does it mean to have eternity in your heart?



Ever think about the future? Ever wonder about what life will be like when we shed our mortal shell?
King Solomon, when he was old, thought about such things when he wrote Ecclesiastes. He wrote:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV)
Interesting that, in context of eternity, Solomon says that He has made everything beautiful. That is good news because life before death is often not too pretty, much less beautiful. It is interesting that we all seem to be born with this concept of eternity but really cannot understand it, even at a superficial level, with our heads. I guess that is because we cannot grasp timelessness.

I know that I cannot imagine a place where there are no seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks or years. What I find interesting about this idea of eternity is that it is a concept of the heart not the head. It is a concept that confronts us at a heart level. It causes us to wonder at a gut level. Sad that many take eternity, try to discern it with their heads, and arrive at some strange places. Maybe this sort of cogitation is a way to handle an unanswerable question with a non-answer?

Let me wrap up with the titled question. What do do you think it means to have eternity in your heart?


2 comments:

  1. I think it means on some level, we all "know" there has to be more than this. The question is really why we do and I often wonder if everyone does.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great insight Alice. For folks like me, I think that the knowing involves a sense of awe that we experience when we consider the majesty of both the universe and a baby being born. That awe leads me to believe that there is something greater than what I see with my eyes.

      Delete

I love to get comments and usually respond. So come back to see my reply. You can click here to see my comment policy.