When We've Been There 10,000 Years

“Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)

Forever. That’s how long followers of Christ will live with God and each other. And when you stop to think about it, that’s a long, long time! Now to help compare “forever” to the shortness of this life the following illustration is just so good:

"Dr. Leslie Weatherhead, in his book, Time for God has a mathematical calculated schedule which compares a lifetime of 'three score years and ten' (70 years) with the hours of a single day from seven in the morning to eleven at night (Tan #6696). If your age is:

15, the time is 10:25 a.m.;
20, the time is 11:34 a.m.;
25, the time is 12:42 p.m.;
30, the time is 1:51 p.m.;
35, the time is 3:00 p.m.;
40, the time is 4:08 p.m.;
45, the time is 5:16 p.m.;
50, the time is 6:25 p.m.;
55, the time is 7:34 p.m.;
60, the time is 8:42 p.m."

Now playing this equation out with eternity included I came up with the following. For the sake of discussion, let’s just say that eternity is about 999 billion years. (I know it’s much longer than that, but I can’t make a calculation without a definite number and my calculator doesn’t go any higher!) So if the beginning of our lives equals 7:00 a.m., then when we’ve been in heaven 10,000 years (like the great hymn “Amazing Grace” declares), the time will only be a whopping 7:00 a.m. and 5 ten-thousandths of a second! So, you see, forever (with God and each other!) is truly a long, long time. I’m looking forward to seeing you in heaven, my brothers and sisters!