Friday, 14 October 2011

Eternity in their hearts




He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3v11

I had never noticed this passage until Jay preached on it a few weeks ago. I was taken by the concept of ‘eternity in their hearts.’ I think part of the reason why it grabbed my attention was that I was studying Romans 1 at the time. There we read that God has revealed Himself to all men and that all men have a knowledge of God in their hearts. In order to overcome that knowledge they must choose to suppress it.

As beings created with eternity in our hearts it is easy to see why we will never find satisfaction in the temporal. Deep down there is always that knowledge that there is something more to life than just the years we spend here. Everyone knows it, but man does not like to think about eternity because that knowledge makes him accountable.

I think that is why sin is so active. I think that is a big part of why man makes the sinful choices he does. It is hard to ignore the knowledge of eternity that is placed in the hearts of man. Man must choose to ignore God and eternity. When he does this he focuses on doing all he can to find a meaning in this life.

But there is none to be found here so man goes on and on and on trying to find it.

This ought to encourage believers. Everyone we meet has, perhaps hidden deep down, a knowledge of eternity. It is our task to appeal to that knowledge and show them the way. 

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