Time is an uncomfortable reality, isn’t it? Like clothing, time rarely seems to fit just right. Sometimes we want to rush toward a longed-for event or a new stage of life. Or, we can’t wait for a trial to end. Other times we cry for the clock to stop. We’d like time to stand still so we can just sit and savor. For centuries, philosophers and theologians have argued that we are uneasy with time because we weren’t created to be caged by it. Our hearts were made for more.

Jesus promised eternal life to His followers: the disciples (John 14:1–3), the crowd in the Temple (John 5:24), the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43). Perhaps His most famous conversation about eternity occurred with Nicodemus in John chapter 3. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The Apostle Paul also wrote repeatedly about the eternal. He encouraged the Corinthians not to “lose heart,” for their “momentary troubles [were] achieving for [them] an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:16–17). With the Philippians, he shared his own eternal hope: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain... I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far (Phil. 1:21, 23).

In Colossians 3, Paul tells the church in Colossae to set their hearts and minds—their desires and thoughts—on the “things above” (vv. 1–2). They can do this in response to the past, present, and future work of Christ Himself (vv. 1–4). This eternal focus would orient their daily lives. It would drive them to relinquish all manner of sin (vv. 5–10). And it would clothe them in compassion, humility, forgiveness, and love (vv. 12– 14). We love God by aligning our eternal vision with His.

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