FOREVER!!!

Here is a thought for you this morning. Last Sunday at church we sang, "I Could Sing Of Your Love Forever" and as we sang that song, I was consumed with the glory of that thought in a way that I had not known recently. Later on as I was continuing to reflect upon that song and its message, I began thinking of the things I could do forever. My first thought was I could golf forever... But then I remembered the golf outings in North Carolina where I golfed 36 holes for 3 days straight and 18 holes on the last day, and I remembered how tired I was and how nice it was to get home and take a break even from golf. Then I thought I could sit on the beach and enjoy the ocean forever, but the truth is even our 2 week vacation in Hawaii on Maui got old after a while. Don't get me wrong that vacation was fabulous but coming home was equally great. Eating ice cream seems like something I could do forever but even my nightly love feasts with that frozen stuff can only last so long before I am full. And even as much as I like Taco Bell - 2 combo burritos, 3 tacos and a nachos supreme can make anybody...well you know what I mean.

No matter how great the things of this world are, you can only do them for so long before they loose their lustre. To do something forever would require that thing to be unending in its attraction. It would have to have an increasing power to draw us into its greatness. It would have to be able to grow moment by moment in its enticing magnificence. People spend their entire lives frantically searching for that thing. Every generation thinks they have what it takes to find it. But the truth is no amount of money or fame or mistresses (just ask Tiger Woods) or drugs or activity or effort can fulfill that forever yearning within us.

There is one thing, however, that does have the ability to fill the forever void within our hearts. The Apostle Paul found it. Actually I should say it found him. In the midst of all his brilliance and striving, God poured out His love upon Him and he was changed...forever. The more he became overwhelmed by God's love, the more he realized that life was not really about the things he accomplished, the churches he started - it wasn't about his earthly resume. His writings reveal that life for Paul was about one thing - living every moment basking in the love of God. This thought so consumed him that he became convinced that nothing could separate him (or us) from that love. "Neither death nor life, angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

King David understood that as he proclaimed in Psalm 27 that there was only one thing that he really wanted in life. There was only one thing that he sought. That was to, "dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life." John also understood it as he wrote about God's love in 1 John and as he concluded his life by telling the churches over and over, "little children love one another..."

The question this Christmas season is do you understand it? Do you understand with all your heart, mind, soul and strength that there is nothing in all of eternity like the revelation of God's love? God did not send His Son so we could become exhausted in our lives and even in the church celebrating His birth. He sent His Son so we could experience without question His gracious and abundant love, not just once a year, but forever... May that incredible revelation consume you this season both now and always.

Living with you in the glory of God,

Dave Hampson