Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1Timothy 1:17)
We live in a rapidly changing world where things move on and get out of date so quickly. Look, for example, at any pre-packed foodstuff and you’ll find it has a ‘sell-by’ date. This is the final date by which the product must be sold to ensure its freshness; and after this date, the shop must take it off the shelf and discard it. Often the product will also have a ‘best before’ date too, to ensure that you eat it while it’s still at its best. (They don’t want you coming back complaining that it’s ‘gone bad’!)
Or consider the world of technology, where ‘the latest model’ replaces the previous one almost before it’s off the shelf. In fact, things change so rapidly these days that it’s hardly worth worrying about whether you’re getting the best deal, for you can be sure that by tomorrow there will be another ‘best deal’!
In the light of this, how wonderfully reassuring it is to remember that our God is ‘the eternal God’ (Genesis 21:33). He has no ‘sell-by’ date, after which he is unmarketable; no ‘best before’ date, after which you can’t be sure if he’s at his best; no replacement model to surpass him. He is eternal! Not only does this mean that he is without beginning and without end (for that in itself might be rather boring); it means that he is unchanging and dependable, yet up-to-date and ever new.
It is because he is eternal that everything about him is eternal. He shows ‘eternal love’ (1 Kings 10:9) and gives ‘eternal blessings’ (Psalm 21:6); his kingdom is ‘an eternal kingdom’ (Daniel 4:3) and his gift to men and women is ‘eternal life’ (John 3:16); he is ‘from all eternity’ (Psalm 93:2) and provides for us ‘an eternal home’ (Ecclesiastes 12:5).
Remembering that God is eternal makes a difference to life. So don’t be small-minded or short-term in your thinking; your God is eternal – and so are his purposes for you. And today, he wants to carry you further into those purposes with him.
The eternal God is our hiding place; he carries us in his arms. (Deuteronomy 33:27, CEV)
Copyright © 2017 Martin Manser and Mike Beaumont
