Malachi Moment Number 830

We clean the temporal while neglecting the Eternal.

We clean what is right in front of us. We clean what other people can see, so we look good while often neglecting the hard work. We clean the outside of the cup, but the inside is still dirty.

The temporal is here and now…manifestations of our life in the present…things that are seen. The Pharisees were rebuked for being whitewashed; pristine and pretty on the outside but dead on the inside.

We clean the temporal while neglecting the Eternal.

Malachi Moment Number 830

We could live forever if something keeps sustaining us. Trees get bigger as long as they have enough water, soil, root system, and the weather doesn’t destroy them. They keep growing and multiplying as cells divide. But eventually, they do wither and die.

Eternity is much more complex. Maybe we cannot fully understand Eternity. Schweitzer couldn’t understand it. Einstein couldn’t totally understand it. Doesn’t time itself fascinate? Time is just something I cannot even understand.

Eternity starts at a seminal moment. Eternity begins the moment we recognize God, grow to believe in Him, and acknowledge what He does for us. Eternity is a process. And guess when Eternity ends…never! Eternity always was and always will be.

The one thing about God that has always amazed me the most, finding it hard to even fathom, almost making my head explode, is that God always was; nobody created Him. Get your head around that one!

Eternity in God’s kingdom always has been. But for us, the Eternal really catches traction when we understand what Jesus did, who He was, why God sent Him and the efficacious nature of what He purchased for us…salvation.

Salvation is a one-time thing but also a process. The duality represents the paradoxes so often seen in God’s realm.

What does salvation mean? Basically, salvation means being forgiven by the One who created us, after we went our own way.

God is completely Holy, therefore we cannot be in His presence without a propitious sacrifice…Jesus dying for our sins by shedding His own blood. Somehow, in all of that mystery, God allows us to bask in His presence and enjoy Him forever. Salvation, Heaven, Eternity, are all the presence of God.

Jeremiah, an Old Testament prophet, cried out, “Lord, return to me the joy of my salvation.”

The joy that comes when one first acknowledges God is similar in a temporal sense to what addicts discover when we realize in Recovery there is joy to be had in a substance-free life. We are excited to be alive, knowing we have the tools to manage the addiction. We recognize it will always be with us but we’ve got tools and a team that help. Psychological education teaches us how addiction affects our brain. We’re excited to be alive. Our bodies no longer riddled with drugs and alcohol and all these things that depress and cause mania. We call it the pink cloud, but the pink cloud does not last forever.

It is like going on a honeymoon. Originally a honeymoon was a full month and the new couple had a month to explore each other and get to know each other. That’s why we talk about the “honeymoon being over.”

Therefore, we remember and cry out, “Lord, return to us the joy of our salvation.”