When was the last time you thought about forever? As a child, I remember the pastor speaking about living forever, and it frightened me. Forever is a long stinking time, and my young brain could not wrap itself around something lasting that long.
Through the years I have come to embrace forever, even though I have no concept of it;
Forever is still a long stinking time.
I was raised in a denominational church before my parents shifted to an independent movement. As I recall, there was an issue with my mother wearing makeup that the denominational church did not allow. In those early years, I heard about “forever” a lot, however, the other group focused on the “now.” Forever began to fade away, taking a backseat to what God will do for you now.
As I grew older and answered a “call” from God to enter “into” the “ministry,” I was bothered by everything being “now” focused. Depending on which voice you listened to, your focus was how much “stuff” you could accumulate, or how many “souls” you got saved. This is, of course, an oversimplification because m focus is not on the message being promoted, but on forever.
The message of the gospel is everlasting life through Jesus Christ. The message of Jesus was, and is, a close personal relationship with the Father. The message of the Holy Spirit is a close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As the active agent of the godhead in the world today, he—the Holy Spirit—shows Christ-followers how to have such a relationship.
This is important to understand because such a relationship involves forever. In the beginning, God had a plan and a purpose for his creation called man—male and female. When man willfully disobeyed God’s direct command, sin resulted, and thus God’s original plan was halted.
As a result, two critical things happened. First, the godhead began setting in motion the plan of redemption, while man—male and female—began devising ways to return to God. According to time—as humanity understands it—the godhead’s plan took millennia to unfold. During this time, man—male and female—devised many and sorted plans to get back to God.
During this process, three key elements unfolded. The first being the innate desire of man—male and female—to know God. This leads to God choosing certain people to serve as his representative. The second key element that unfolded was the slow, methodical implementation of the godhead’s plan; which included key people being in key areas at key times in history. The third and final key element, is Lucifer, the fallen angel, whose focus is to disrupt the godhead’s plan. In this regard, humanity becomes pawns used by Lucifer to carry out his plan of disruption.
The result of these key elements is humanity getting closer to God, the innate desire, the positioning of key people to move along the godhead’s plan, and religion, the plan of Lucifer to discredit God.
This is important to understand because built within all humanity is the desire to “know” God. Throughout the stories of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments are men and women finding a close personal relationship with God, either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit.
Since God’s plan is a “forever-plan,” eternity plays an important role in that plan. The other two key elements—humanity’s innate desire and Lucifer’s plan of disruption—are played out in the struggle of relationship with the godhead, verses religion—Lucifer’s plan to disrupt the plan of God.
This close personal relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, is why is blog as well as this website are so important. For millennia Lucifer has honed his plan of religion to the point that it is accepted worldwide without question; again, speaking in general terms and not specifics.
“Draw me close to you,” is the innate cry of the Christ-follower. A close personal relationship with the godhead is essential to prepare for eternity—forever is a long stinking time.