Why do so many ‘not religious’ people go to church at Christmas and Easter? Or when in life-threatening situation like a hurricane, earthquake, plane crash or some sort of disaster start making promises to God, call on Jesus, quote Psalm 23, sing ‘Amazing Grace’ or rapidly repeat ‘Oh my God’? Why even bother going to church twice a year or call upon a God one doesn’t really believe in? I think it’s all because of one eight-letter word, ‘eternity’.
I am amazed at the effect of this word eternity. I have watched people sober up and their countenance change by just mentioning it. Eternity spins our mind out, time that never ends! But rather than being the accumulation of time, it’s more likely to be the absence of it. Gaze at the countless stars on a clear night and thoughts of eternity are sure to follow. But there’s no need to look as far as the stars, the earth we stand on is suspended in it! Eternity is everywhere we look.
The story of Arthur Stace is well known. It was because of him ‘eternity’ was written in lights across the Sydney Harbour Bridge at the turn of the millennium. For 33 years he wrote ‘eternity’ in chalk on the footpaths of Sydney. It affected thousands, many becoming ‘religious’ because of it. There was no evangelist preacher giving an emotional appeal or a choir to set the atmosphere. Just one word written in chalk.
Arthur Stace isn’t around to remind us any more, but funerals certainly are. Death usually gets our attention, even if it’s only for a day. Funerals strip away earthly distractions and remind us of eternity. Even though our eyes can’t see it written across the casket, our hearts sure do. It is no coincidence that we hear a voice from deep within say, ‘This can’t be it’.
‘Notice how we are perpetually surprised at Time. (“How time flies! Fancy John being grown up & married! I can hardly believe it!”) In heaven’s name, why? Unless, indeed, there is something in us which is not temporal.’ — C.S. Lewis, A Sever Mercy (Vanauken), p.93
Eternity is more than a sense of timelessness. Eternity is in our hearts, just as the Bible book of Ecclesiastes says (chapter 3, verse 11). It’s part of our make-up as a human being. That’s why the word resinates so strongly with us.
Why does eternity make some of us go to church at Easter/Christmas and others recite Psalm 23 in a disaster? Why does it sober us up and scare us a little? The answer is simple. Our heart tells us we will live forever and our finite body tells us it is not on this earth. These facts immediately open up the possibility of a real heaven and a real hell.
It’s not six in one hand and half a dozen in the other when it comes to these eternal destinies. Heaven and hell polarise us. We will either be totally right or totally wrong about it. This is not an issue to gamble over. It matters.
Listen to the voice of eternity God put in your heart. Don’t wait till a disaster or a funeral before it gets your attention.