Eternity Amnesia

Eternity Amnesia

Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering.

Hebrews 10:32

Remember the character Dory from the movie Finding Nemo? She was a lovable, ditzy fish with severe memory loss, unable to remember anything for even five seconds. A lot of the movie’s humor is sparked by her character as she swims cluelessly through the action. Though she’s one of my favorite characters, it’s clear that life without a memory is not much of a life.

That’s Paul Tripp’s point in his book Forever. Without keeping in mind what God has in store for us, it will be impossible to live the lives we’re called to. According to Tripp, believers who suffer from what he calls “eternity amnesia” are holding on to a disillusioned and miserable form of Christianity. As belief in an afterlife declines, so does our ability to live a life of robust faith now.

Are you unhappy? Make more money. Having difficulty in your marriage? Find a better spouse. Bored? Buy something. Invited to serve? You’re far too busy. These are the values of people who have little hope and no peace, who have only this life to live for.

If you suspect you are suffering from a case of “eternity amnesia,” take some time today to meditate on words that Jesus spoke to his disciples the night before his death: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled,” he told them. “Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am” (John 14:1-3).

Jesus, if you had died merely to improve life in this world, you would have achieved a small good. But you died so that we might have life everlasting. Today I ask for the grace to make all my decisions with the apostle Paul’s words: “We know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands” (2 Corinthians 5:1).