Eternity. Do we ever consider it? The Psalmist considers the one who is eternal, the God who has no beginning and no end. The one who has been in eternal Trinity, in eternal love. The one who is not constrained in any way by time. With our finite minds we find it hard to grasp the whole concept of eternity.

God is not constrained by time, because he created it. He is able to see time throughout its entirety, from beginning to end.

Yet he does not leave the universe and time to roll along like a clockwork toy. He intervenes in time and space, the “Word became flesh and made his dweeling amongst us”.

Whilst we may not be able to fully grasp eternity, nor even consider it much, we still have an inkling of eternity. For we are created in the image of God, with souls which will never die, and so we are aware that there is more to this life than our finite time on earth.

We have two possible eventualities in eternity. If we have our sins dealt with by faith in the only one who can deal with them – Jesus Christ, we can have peace with God and spend eternity under his grace. If our sins are not dealt with, eternity will be spent under the wrath of a holy God who cannot allow sin in his presence to go unpunished.

If we are the children of God, our attitude should reflect that.

We should be grateful for all that God has done for us. After all, the sacrifice of God the Son is no small thing, “Tis mystery all, the immortal dies!” Not only that, but we experience blessing upon blessing in our daily lives. If we are not grateful, we should ask if we have really experienced the salvation which is from God.

This gratitude should affect our behaviour in everything we do. We should be wanting to obey the commandments of God, not considering them burdensome. We should be generous with those who truly need what we can offer. Not that we can offer more than we have, but that which we have will be given generously.