“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you.” — Scripture: John 14:1-4 Eternity — It’s hard to wrap your brain around forever, isn’t it? The Bible says that our life is like a vapor.

So many have lost loved ones recently. It’s hard not to focus on the temporary. Maybe you have suffered loss to sickness or trials, in a relationship, or people leaving.

We have no assurance of the temporary, because it is temporary. But the good news is that there is someplace where everything will be the same, and that is heaven. God tells us in Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

This world, these bodies, our stuff, are all temporary but God’s kingdom is eternal. We fuss over the temporal. My goal is to get you thinking more eternal. The first eternal promise is the promise of Eternal Life. Titus 1:2 says, In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; Isaiah tells us that God inhabits eternity. He is the source of eternal life.

In Revelation 1, He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Jesus said, I am way, the truth, and the Life. In John 11:25, Jesus said... I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: John 10:28 Jesus said, And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Who gives us eternal life? Jesus has to give it.

Let me ask you, Do you have eternal life? Do you know where you’re going if you were die today? John 5:11-12 says, ... God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. If you don’t have the Son, you don’t have eternal life, because Jesus is the only one that can give it to you.

The Second eternal promise is that you Know you have it. I have talked to a lot of people who have struggled with the assurance of their salvation and that you can lose it. The problem with that is if you can lose it, how do you know when you lose it and when you get it back if its dependent on you? God tells us in 1John 5:13, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life... We can know that we have eternal life. Paul says in Romans 8, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: I don’t have any doubt where I’m going, if I were to die today. I KNOW that I have eternal life. Do you have that assurance? Philippians 1:6 says, ... he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Praise God it’s not up to me, Amen! It’s not my good works that earned it and it’s not my good works that finish it. My eternal life is not dependent on me. It’s dependent on Him.

The Third Eternal Promise is that God wants you to have eternal life. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. “Whosoever” — That’s you and me. That’s if you have had a bad life, are handicapped, white, black, transgender, or if you have done terrible things. Romans 10 says, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Call on Him now. He is waiting for you, but you must call on Him. You must believe on Him, that He died for your sins, was buried and rose again.

The final promise is that Jesus is preparing a place for us and desires to be with us forever. That’s why He paid for our sins, to save us from hell and take us to heaven to be with Him. He promises an eternal Home with streets of gold, and no more sorrow.

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: Rev 21:3 says, ... he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Matthew Spoonhour is pastor of First Baptist Church, Monroe.