Living Eternally

The difficulty humanity — you and I — have with thinking, acting, and living our lives based on our eternity and on our eternalness (instead of founding our actions completely on our here and our now, the present component of our eternity in which we live) is because of our lack of understanding of what our eternity is, how it is designed, and how it works. If we believe in God, and we do, then we believe, and we understand that there is a “here-after” component to our eternity. Our “here” is not all there is to us. When our spirit leaves our body and our body ceases to live, we do not die. The real us, the eternal us, our spirit continues to live in a place where times does not exist. The real us, the forever us is not a “time” creature/creation. We are from our eternity, and we return to our eternity without time when our spirit leaves our body. The reason we have difficulty living our present lives based our eternity, who we are forever is founded in our lack of understanding and our lack of recognition of the reality that there is a component of our eternity that we do not talk about because we do not know about it.  That component is the “before-here” portion of who we are, who we really are. Our Constitution, the scriptures, the values, the principles and the “precedents” that we choose to govern our lives in time by, is very clear about the “before-here” component of our eternity:

5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5-7 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Before our body was, we were. Our spirit existed and lived in our eternity before we entered time. We did not begin here, and we will not end here. How important is this knowledge, you ask? This knowledge, this fact provides us with the wisdom and the power to know how to live successful and meaningful lives while we are in time. Our life in time must be based on our awareness and our understanding that in our before-here, before we entered time, we were separated and prepared for a divine purpose. We were “consecrated”, set aside for a divine purpose that we are to live in and we are to experience in the in-time portion of our eternity.

10 For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), [a]recreated in Christ Jesus, (born anew) that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Our lives in time are to be guided and to be directed by the amazing plans that our Creator and our Designer made for us, before we were born. There is a “good life” prepared for us in our before-here. To experience and to enjoy who we really are, and who we are designed to be for our enjoyment and for our pleasure, we must live our lives based on the plan prepared for us before we entered time.

11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun, but God alone can satisfy],

Ecclesiastes 3:11-13 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Eternity is who we are and what our lives are to be based upon, now in our here. This is how we are to live successful and meaningful lives in the in-time component of our eternity. Our before-here is the most impactful and the most influential part of what we are to consider for our direction and for our understanding of who we are designed to be in our here and now, and that impacts our here-after more than anything else about us. We must engage our now life from the understanding and from the perspective of eternity, because we are more than just the in-time portion of our eternity. We are forever.