When I fall in love
It will be forever
Or I never will fall in love.
In a restless world like this is,
Love is over before it’s begun,
And too many moonlight kisses
Seem to cool in the light of the sun….
It’s fascinating to listen to the way popular songs talk about love.
For if I ever saw you,
I didn’t catch your name.
But it never really matters.
I will always feel the same.
Love you forever and forever,
Love you with all my heart.
Love you whenever we’re together,
Love you when we’re apart.
Of course it’s not all chocolate and roses. There is some doubt that creeps in.
How can I be sure,
In a world that’s constantly changing,
How can I be sure
Where I stand with you?
This song puts its finger on the problem. Everything in this world changes. Another song is even more cynical.
Tonight you’re mine completely.
You give your love so sweetly.
Tonight the light of love is in your eyes,
But will you love me tomorrow?
Nevertheless we still want to talk about romantic love in terms of eternity:
How’s the weather?
Whether or not we’re together,
Together we’ll see it much better.
I love you, I love you forever.
You know where I can be found
How can I be sure
In a world that’s constantly changing?
How can I be sure?
I’ll be sure with you.
The book of Ecclesiastes says:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. — Ecclesiastes 3:11
It just seems like God has wired us to think in terms of eternity, especially with regard to the things of the heart. Yet at the same time we are conscious of the way the world changes:
You could not step twice into the same river. – Heraclites
So how do we have the unmitigated gall to promise anyone anything about “forever”? “I’ll love you forever, unless I get hit by a truck, or change my mind, or find someone better” is more like it. Yet who would find such a profession of love attractive?
One of the ideas that has lurked in the recesses of my mind forever (uh, hyperbolically speaking) is that we Christians are already living eternal life. From Jesus we learn that
… this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
And if Jesus came so that we would know the Father, then each of us is in some sense living eternal life right now.
But what does that mean?
I think it means that our lives are becoming imbued with the quality of eternity. Eternal life is not just a matter of extension through time. Rather, it is a kind of connection to that which does not change, which does not become corrupt, that which does not fail.
And the Bible tells us that love is like this:
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Our hearts want to promise eternity. Our lives give the lie to that. And yet there is a way out of the flowing stream of time, not into a fossilized petrifaction, but into life that is ever renewed, ever new.
But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of Yahweh never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
– Lamentations 3:21-23