20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. Genesis 29:20
Love, Time and Eternity
Recently my wife and I celebrated 30 years of marriage. We are so grateful to God for His gift of life and love. God has really been our strength and help. We have had an incredible journey and we can honestly say we are blessed to be together. Marriage is truly a blessed institution and we are so grateful to God that He has given us one that is so joyful. Even when we have been sorely tested, we have found strength in Him to keep loving and caring for each other.
As I reminisced and reflected on our last thirty years and look joyfully to an even more glorious future of love and companionship, I realised the time has flown. I realised thirty years passed like just 30 days. I began to ask myself why time seems to have gone so fast. I then gained a simple understanding. I saw that when you are in love and are with your loved one, time becomes quite irrelevant.
I have often wondered why Jacob was able to work for seven years and wait to be married to Rachael. The bible states this so clearly.
20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. Genesis 29:20
I know for sure and by experience that love makes time of no consequence. Time just does not matter when love is in play. Think about the many hours you spend on the phone talking to your loved one, especially in the early days when you just met. Think about the endless hours you walk and stroll through parks talking and listening and yes, you are very attentive and you somehow feel the time was very well spent. Think about how many pages of letters we wrote and read and reread. Think about the days you simply sat and just cradled each other for hours and you really don’t say much. Time really stops being important when love kicks in.
So, I began to understand something a bit deeper. I have often wondered what we will be doing in eternity and how we will remain occupied for ever. I now know at least something; because we are going to be with the One who loves us the most and we love the most, Jesus The Christ, because we are going to be in the place where love is perfected, Heaven, time becomes totally irrelevant. Time stops. Eternity is a state of being where we lose our consciousness of time, because we are in the deepest embrace of love ever imagined.
Love is so powerful. God is love. Whenever we do things in love, time and cost is not important. Love always gives, even recklessley.
Today, I just want to encourage someone to give love a chance. Allow your heart to love and you will discover that time stops for you too.
Lastly do you have the ultimate love in your heart? Has Jesus Christ become a permanent resident in your heart? Allow Him in and you will start to enjoy eternity from this very moment.
John 14:23 New King James Version (NKJV)
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
I like how the book of Ecclesiastes states this.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
God is the ultimate love gift. We can never fully explore Him. We can never fully apprehend Him. We can never get bored of Him. He will amaze us continually, moment by moment, age to age, for all eternity!
Thank God for love, time and eternity!
Let us pray: God You are LOVE. Please shed your love abroad into our hearts again today. Help us to love You with all our hearts and help us to love our neighbours as ourselves. Lord help renew our love for our spouses and let love prevail in all our relationships. Refresh us in Your love we pray and help us to see that love demands time and time becomes irrelevant when love is in play. Thank you for loving us so much in Christ Jesus. Amen.