When Does Forever Start?

When does forever start?

That’s the question that has been on my mind for the past couple of days. The question in itself is mind-blowing to me, because I feel like there could be numerous answers:

1. Forever starts when you die. The after-life is the beginning of eternity for the individual.
2. Forever is now, has always been, and will always be. We exist in time, but God has always been outside of it, existing in eternity.
3. Forever doesn’t exist. Time is a natural limitation and everything is boxed in by it. Everyone and everything has a definitive “end.”

I think I'm the cookie...

You might think this question weighed on my mind as a result of heavy, spiritual issues. Perhaps you imagine me poring over my Bible, flipping through the pages, madly trying to determine when I first taste eternity. But you would be wrong. This question came to me as I pondered the arrogance of a phrase that I use all the time: BFF. 

Best. Friends. Forever. 

My BFF, June,  (of the “we-almost-died-in-Baltimore” and other blogs) is moving away this week. Driving off to Austin, TX…never to be seen or heard from again. OK OK. I’m sure I’ll see/hear from her again, but currently it feels like the “forever” just dropped out of our happy acronym.

And crazily, this made me think more about Abraham and Sarah. 

Prior to June’s declaration that she was moving…I didn’t doubt the “forever.” Our friendship was good. But then circumstances started to change, and everything started to feel “short-term.” And so it was with Abraham and Sarah. I think in the beginning their faith in the promises and constancy of God was really strong. But then circumstances began to change: Sarah started to feel old, heck...she started to actually BE old, and suddenly the eternal promise of God had an expiration date. 

I read somewhere that short-term thinkers tend to be desperate. I think they tend to be crazy. I say this because there is a ticking clock in the background of their every moment. Imagine that if you will…a loudly ticking clock counting down your chance at happiness, and you can hear it every second of your waking life. Such a person is on-edge to say the least (i.e. never at peace). On-edge people say and do DUMB things. Sarah offered another woman (Hagar) to the husband that she loved in order to produce an heir that God told Sarah she would give birth to. How did TWO extremely faith-filled individuals do something so rash? Their focus shifted. Their focus shifted off of the promises of God and onto their situation. It shifted off of God’s power and onto their frailty. It shifted off of God’s sovereignty and onto their knowledge of the natural order. It shifted from eternal to short-term. 

And we do this all the time. Imagine the area of your life that is super manic. And realize it's because of short-term thinking. We need to identify those areas because it is in short-term thinking that mistakes get made. But it is in thinking eternally that we can find true peace and rest on God's promises. And so this blog is a call to think and to live eternally. But there has to be a starting point.  

Which leads me back to my question: When does forever start? 

…all these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own... But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them - Hebrews 11: 13 - 16 (excerpts)

This scripture says they died in faith, yet the scripture speaks about them as if they are alive. They “desire” in the present tense! But this is the clincher: God is not ashamed to be called their God:

“He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” - Luke 20:38

He’s the God of the living. So the only question then is: Are. You. Alive? 

How is it that Abraham and Sarah came to live eternally? By faith. By thinking eternally. In the previous blog, I spoke on how God had turned Sarah (and Abraham too) back to faith, and it was in the interest of eternity. God's plan for us is about more than the carnal promises. It was about more than creating a physical bloodline. But it was about them “seeking a country”! God wants us thinking eternally so we can live eternally WITH Him! 

Just as with Abraham and Sarah, so it is with us. Forever starts with belief. 

…having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. - Colossians 2:12

People are always telling me to live in the moment…but why? Why would I live in a moment when forever is available to me? Just saying. 

But wait! What about June?! The situation with June, it is an earthly one. I was thinking short-term because it’s hard to imagine maintaining the same level of relationship from 1,513 miles away, but I believe in us. And forever starts with belief, right? To be 100% honest there is only one way to ensure that we are legitimate BFFs. And that is for both of us to access “forever” through faith in Jesus Christ. Then, we are guaranteed forever, in some capacity. I say “in some capacity” because we know that there is no marriage or giving in marriage in heaven (Matthew 22:30), so maybe there’s no best friends or pinky swearing to best friendship…BUT I certainly hope that there is.