8 ABC’s of God: Eternal
ATTRIBUTE DEFINED
Eternal: Being without beginning or end; continuing without interruption; timeless.
BIBLE VERSES
Psalm 102:12 But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; you are remembered throug
hout all generations.Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity.
Romans 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.
CHRIST'S EXAMPLE
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
1 John 1:2 We proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.
1 John 5:20 We are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Revelation 1:17,18 Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore.
DIRECTLY TO ME
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
John 3:15 Whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
Jude 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
Unlike God, I had a beginning. Yet he has “put eternity in my heart,” so that I imagine life with no ending, like him. Even ancient cultures who did not know God made plans for an afterlife, because they, too, knew the physical end was not the end. This thought is from God, part of our being made in his image.
ECHO IT
We want to be like God—eternal, but our immortality is not inherent, as his is. Our eternal life comes only as a gift. Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
FORGIVE ME
Father, forgive us for seeking immortality on our own terms—by wanting to make a name for ourselves here so we won’t be forgotten. Also, forgive our presumption that eternal life is our right. Not so. It is 100% your gift to bestow, not our earning or our due, and that gift only through Jesus Christ. You owe us no life after death. Eternalness is your inherent nature, not ours.
I also seek forgiveness for my obsession with time instead of living in the light of eternity. I too often allow myself to feel rushed, and thus impatient. Let me release the pressure of the time-bound clock and live instead with your eternal vision.
GLORY TO GOD
Father, I praise you for being everlasting to everlasting. Another one of your attributes that I can’t fathom—it’s too big. You didn’t allow our minds to be large enough to grasp it, so we stand in total awe. Grant us awareness that each day here is a small, small thing compared to the grandness of your eternal nature.
HIS WORDS
Memorize:
Psalm 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
…14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
