Forever Faithful Fear

About 3 months ago it hit me what a marvelous and ominous word "forever" is.  One evening, as I laid next to my husband I thought, "I wish it could be like this forever."  In an instant I knew....IT WILL BE!!

I will always have  my husband as my best human friend, for all eternity!  There will be absolutely no end to our friendship!!  What a wonderful thought!  What a relief from fear of longing to hear his voice, feel his hand holding mine...he will always and forever literally be with me!!  Yes, there will be that brief period of time when we are physically apart, but our spirits are forever intertwined through the blood of Jesus. 
That night I actually turned and whispered a thank you to that lovely man and told him how awesome it is to know for certain that we will be together forever.  He smiled and nodded in consent and hugged me closer.  He must have remembered that moment as much as I, because about a week ago we pulled in to a gas station.  When we went in to pay, a young cashier asked, "Are you two together?"  That dear heart said, "Forever."  I almost started crying.  Tears did well up in my eyes from joy.  I grabbed his hand and we walked out the door with a little skip.

Thinking on this one little word has opened my eyes to the enormity of the need to love others into God's kingdom.  If we do not, they will spend eternity in torment!!  Think on that a moment and that selfish little uncaring world that tries to wrap itself around us whispering that the hatred going on in this world is no concern of ours as we are not involved in it will start to quake in fear.  Satan knows that if we begin to grasp just a bit what forever or eternity really means we will begin to also understand that people don't stop existing because their bodies quit functioning.  We were created in God's image.  He breathed HIS Spirit into us (Genesis 2:7) making us eternal beings as well.  We will either spend that eternity in a perpetual state of learning and growing in Christ, which is real life indeed, or in a perpetual state of turmoil, hatred, and terror; wishing it would all end, yet knowing it never will.  This is death indeed - being utterly and endlessly separated from real life in Christ Jesus.

God has been crying out to us to choose life from the beginning of time.  In telling man not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge He was telling him to choose Life - God.  Later, when Israel was getting ready to enter the Promised Land he spoke it through Joshua.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving The Lord your God, obeying His voice, and cleaving to Him; for that means life to you and length of days...Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV)

Now He continues to cry out through the blood of His Son Jesus -
And to Jesus, the Mediator (Go-between, Agent) of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood which speaks [of mercy], a better and nobler and more gracious message than the blood of Abel [which cried out for vengeance].
So see to it that you do not reject Him or refuse to listen to and heed Him Who is speaking [to you now]. For if they [the Israelites] did not escape when they refused to listen and heed Him Who warned and divinely instructed them [here] on earth [revealing with heavenly warnings His will], how much less shall we escape if we reject and turn our backs on Him Who cautions and admonishes [us] from heaven?  Hebrews 12:24-25 (AMP)
Father, help us, Your children, begin to fully grasp eternity, forever in our hearts.  We know the definition and we believe it in our hearts, but our minds get easily removed from it as our senses cry out that all is finite.  Help us to look into the eyes of eternity when we look into the eyes of the lost.  Help us to not walk in selfishness at the contentment of our eternity with You, but rather to allow ourselves the discomfort of feeling their fear, loneliness and anxiety of not only being lost in this world, but lost from Your presence.  May our hearts cry out for their forgiveness as Jesus cried out for ours as He hung from the cross in agony (Luke 23:34).  Help us to hold no grudges, bear no ill will, but to seek their entrance into Your kingdom of grace.  May we walk forever in faithful fear of disappointing You. I ask this in Jesus' precious and most holy name.