How Belief in Eternity Effects Your Life Now

Beloved Kinney,

As we’ve been working through Genesis, and even as we heard a complementary sermon this past Sunday from Hebrews 11, we have, as a church, been talking a lot about heaven. We can never reflect too much on heaven. In fact, I picked up another book from my shelf called Forever: Why You Can’t Live Without It by Paul Tripp. As I’ve said many times, nearly everything written by Paul Tripp will bless your soul. This book is no different.

Tripp has a gift for diagnosing the human heart. Why do we do what we do? One question he asks repeatedly in this book is: Why do we struggle with disappointment in life that leads to despair? One answer he gives, based on the theme of the book is, “We have forever inside of us, and it creates a natural disappointment with the brokenness of the here and now.” (pg.16) In other words, we were made to live forever, but sin messed that up! And living in a sin-cursed world is disappointing!

Tripp goes onto share some ways we reveal we live with “eternity amnesia,” when we forget what we were made for—to live with God forever. Here are a few signs…

• We live with unrealistic expectations. “…in our eternity amnesia we are asking this

     present world to be what it simply will never be.” (pg.24)

• We focus too much on ourselves. “Eternity confronts us with the fact that we are not in

     charge, that we do not live at the center of the universe, and that life moves by the will
     and purpose of Another.” (pgs.24-25)

• We ask too much of people. “The people around us do not have the ability to give us, in

     the here and now, that constant inner peace and satisfaction that we can only ever
     experience in eternity.” (pg.25)

• We are too controlling or fearful. “Peace in this world is found only when we live with

     the coming world in view.” (pg.25)

• We question the goodness of God. “Unless we live in the knowledge that God’s promises only reach their fulfillment in the world that is to come, we will feel as if we have been hit with the cosmic bait and switch in the world we now live in.” (pg.25)
• We live more with disappointment than thankfulness. We “approach life hoping that it

     will deliver to us things that we can only experience in eternity.” (pg.26)

• We lack motivation and hope. “Yes, life is hard and you will face things you never

     imagined you would face, but this world is not all there is. You are not living in the final
     chapter of the story.” (pg.26)

• We live as if life doesn’t have consequences. “There is life after death, and…eternity is

     the ultimate consequence.” (pg.26)

As you reflect on these signs of “eternity amnesia” in your life, what are some ways you can
discipline yourself to dwell more on eternity? One way is simple: read this book! Forever by
Paul Tripp is a helpful means by which you can direct your thoughts towards what you were
made for: ETERNITY!

Love,
Pastor Josh