June 6 - Eternity In Our Hearts

 Read today’s texts first: Ecclesiastes 1-3; Psalms 45; Ephesians 2

MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 As in “The Matrix,” the truth only becomes clear when
we swallow the red pill (believe in the blood of Jesus). 

As an irrepressible optimist, I find the book of Ecclesiastes fascinating. It is so dark and depressing. Everything is meaningless, utterly meaningless! Nothing is new, history repeats itself,  life is just a vicious cycle of pointless activity, chasing after the wind. Some have called Ecclesiastes “the inspired book of error” because it reflects the futility of a life without God. 

But it ends beautifully and powerfully, like a symphony of clashing chords resolving in its final crescendo:  The conclusion, when all has been heard, is - fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person (12:13). Life without the Source of Life is indeed meaningless, but with Him, every moment takes on eternal significance.

There are other excerpts from the book which hint at the final conclusion. God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end (3:11). I believe all of us walking through the mundanity of life have moments when we suspect there must be something more. Like the movie, “The Matrix,” the truth only becomes clear when we swallow the red pill, or in my metaphor, realize the blood of Christ applies to us. When we are born again into His Kingdom, Zion, we suddenly see life, real life, from His perspective.

Eternity is awakened in our hearts and everything begins to take on new meaning. We certainly don’t know everything (1 Cor. 13:12 says we are only seeing the reflection of a darkened mirror), but there is a constant awareness of God at work, as in our other two readings. We begin to feel like a king, the most excellent of men and [our] lips have been anointed with grace, since God has blessed [us] forever (Psa. 45:2). We get the sense we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10).

For me, life is the opposite of what is described in most of Ecclesiastes. “Lord, thank You for this promise: Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus (2:4-7).”