We just celebrated Easter. A holiday that reminds us that now is not forever.

It may feel like forever, especially when we’re going through a hard time. Or a long wait. Or a time of grief and sorrow. We can wonder when and how it will ever end!

So many things can seem like forever:

~Grief when a loved one passes away

~Anxiety and fear when bad news keeps coming from everywhere around the world

~Failure of any kind

~Illnesses and weaknesses

~Small children at home with no time to oneself and sleepless nights

~Consequences of when we mess up, or someone else does “for” us (aka the “backwash of sin”)

~Boring meetings, lectures, etc.(!)

~Red tape and bureaucratic processes(!)

~Being “benched” and sidelined in life

~Economic hardship

~Rejection

~Disasters and their after-effects—whether natural or man-made—such as earthquakes, wars, etc.

~Defeat of any kind

~Unemployment

~A visit with someone/people we’d rather not spend time with(!)

~Aging

Some of these bounce off each other, such as unemployment, being sidelined, rejected, and economic hardship as a result.

Not a pleasant list, certainly! But it can all change in an instant! Nothing remains the same. And even if it takes a while, just knowing it can change will give us hope as we wait. It will also empower us to do whatever we can to produce the needed change.

Bad news and fear-mongers who spread it will end.

Healing will come, even if it’s not until after we shed our bodies.

Failure is an event, not who we are.

We’ll be called back into the game, even if it’s a different game.

Economic poverty will only remain for so long, even if it’s our whole life on earth, but we can be rich in love, generosity, joy, and hope starting any time.

We will win at something, even if we lose this time. Remember the Cubs who finally won the World Series in 2016 (after 108 years)!

The right people, those that matter, will accept us. For those who’ve rejected us, it’s their loss.

Our children will grow up and we’ll miss them in a major way (I speak from experience)

No lecture, course, even business meeting, will go on indefinitely(!)

There’s no bureaucracy in heaven(!)

Restoration will come, no matter what the consequences before it, if we seek that restoration through the One who can and will restore everything.

The visitors will leave (or we can)(!) Either that or, if we work at it, we may actually start to like those people, so the visits will seem to end too soon!

Aging will end when we shed our earthly bodies.

Whatever we are suffering now will end for those who hope in Him.

Death will end when eternal life begins. Physically that won’t be until later, but emotionally, relationally, and spiritually it can start now, as soon as we ask for it!

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” 1 Pet. 1:3

This is the message of the Resurrection! Now is not forever. Hope reigns because death and sin were not only defeated, first on the Cross, and ultimately when Jesus rose from the dead! (1 Cor. 15:50-58)

“When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’” 1 Cor. 15:54

Again, now is not forever!

What is forever? All that comes from the Lord, which means all good and no bad. Our soul and spirit will live with Him for eternity starting from the point at which we give/gave our life to Him! And someday we’ll see our loved ones again, as long as they joined their lives with Him too.

“And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.” 1 Jn. 2:25

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.” 1 Thes. 4:13

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:16-18

Today’s decays, disappointments, discouraging circumstances, and destructive forces in our lives certainly don’t seem “light and momentary” when we’re going through them. Yet, thanks to the Resurrection, we can “fix our eyes” on what we have to look forward to in eternity. Don’t let the “now”s of this life keep us from that eternal hope!