Eternal Life

by Colly Caldwell
as originally published in the February 7, 1999, edition of Life Lines

     The inspired writers view life from many perspectives. From the vantage point of earthly existence, it is seen as fleeting and brief. It is but a "moment" (Job 34:20) or at most a "few days" (Job 14:1-2); it is a "vapor" (James 4:14) or a "shadow" (Psalm 103:15; James 1:10-11) or the "grass" which withers away (Isaiah 40:6-8).

     Brevity, however, is relative; and one's life is not so brief that he can consider it a lark. Christianity is not a single event or a momentary decision. It is true that we are "strangers and pilgrims" (1 Peter 2:11), but strangers must live among those who are different, and pilgrims are on a long journey, not a vacation. Christianity is not a "quick fix" for the race which is set before us; it is an endurance race.

     Time is for man, not God; and beyond this life lies eternity. Man too often sees his life's span as continuing only from birth to death. God sees it from conception through eternity. Man seems to think that the ultimate value is preserving physical life; but God views the preservation of spiritual life as supreme (Luke 9:24). The quality of life which God offers reaches beyond the mortal considerations of this day-to-day existence and is superior in its spiritual qualities to anything earth can offer. For us to consider eternity as elongated time is probably humorous to God. He is eternal and to Him a thousand years is as a day would be to us (2 Peter 3:8).

     All this has such wonderful implications. I shall never forget being called to talk to a six-year-old boy named Shane about the death of his sister. He was so overwhelmed by his mother's anguish and his own uncertainties that he had become virtually uncontrollable. As we sat on the floor together, I asked Shane if he knew what had happened to "Rhan" (his nickname for Rhonda). His big eyes searched mine as I tried to explain that God had come to take her out of that frail little body which from birth had been twisted by crippling disease to a wonderful place where He could take care of her forever. I told him that she was still alive and well, but in another place where we could not see her for now. That night at the funeral home he behaved like an angel. The next day at the cemetery, after saying a few words, I took Shane by the hand and led him away so he would not have to watch with his parents as they closed his sister's grave. Halfway across the cemetery, he stopped abruptly and looked back. Then, once again, he turned those big eyes on me and said, "Rhan isn't in there, is she?" "No," I answered. "Mama will be alright, won't she?" "Yes, in a while," I replied. So, hand in hand, we walked on, consoled.

     To Shane's mother I tried to pass on an additional thought. We do not stop loving those we care for so much when they go on to another phase of life. We do not stop loving because they have not stopped living. When our children grow up, marry, and move away from home to distant cities, our homes seem bare. We may never get over missing them, but we do not stop loving them. Christians do not have to use the past tense when speaking of their love for those who have gone away from time and into eternity because they are alive and well if they belong to God (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). They have moved, but they have not ceased to exist. They will live forever.

     If we are what God wants us to be, we have much to live for in this life. But most of all we live for the day when we can go to be with Christ (see Philippians 1:21-23). I do not know exactly what I will be like in form or substance (1 John 3:2), but I know that I will still be "Colly" and that I will be incorruptible, powerful, immortal, and spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:35-58; Philippians 3:20-21). If the silent lips of our loved ones over whom we grieve could speak, they would say, "Come go with me." Certainly, happiness for ourselves is not what we feel at the funeral service of our loved ones, but can it be that the greatest gift we can give our departed loved ones is genuine, unselfish happiness for them? Perhaps that is the time to assert our faith and to remember ourselves that life is eternal!