The Weight of Eternity

“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” Matthew 24:13 KJV

This scripture once annoyed me for two reasons. First, because it belongs to a long succession of texts, which fly in the face of a less convulsive, pre-tribulation theology – (I’m squeamish about torture) – and secondly, because the verse also seems to trumpet an obvious truism: “He who stands to the end still stands.” So I suppose being “saved,” is in reference to one’s soul.

Yes, I would like to be saved please, but do I really have to be burned alive, dismembered, disemboweled, etc.? Before the Inquisition there was Rome, and before Rome . . . Mankind rekindles a form of dark depravity and evil I am sure still lurks beneath our civilization. There is ample reason to be afraid of our humanity.

I’m sure also, that Christ simply wanted to cast the truth as simply and plainly as possible in this chapter. He knew some would prefer an easier, more interpretive stance. He was right. I would not prefer to suffer, but perhaps we should be encouraged to know that Jesus himself dreaded his crucifixion, as evidenced in his prayer to the Father . . . “Let this cup pass from me.”

I believe that one must love one’s self. If someone does not love his own soul enough to seek eternal salvation, then perhaps what fuels the desperate hedonism of today is a manifestation of an emergent fear of one’s mortality – and perhaps even one’s own subliminal belief in the existence of a bottom to one’s fall.

Perhaps the sensuality of this age is simply like the stereo volume knob people turn up to drown out the sirens from the street below.

Rock stars and movie stars frequent the headlines with drug overdoses, divorces, cellulite affliction, bad plastic surgery, and their sexual exploits. Suddenly one sees a headline featuring the same stars making a charitable donation to a good cause and that token to goodness bares the expectation of a salute.

These are the cultural rules of the Icon age and the celebrity. Nefarious, notorious and nasty deeds seem absolved by any good deed of sufficient magnitude as to eclipse the charities of the lower class audience. “There, see, I do care, top my million dollar donation.”

An audience is but a mirror. Celebrities are often caught looking at it for too long, and like the myth, if one looks at it long enough and becomes mesmerized like proverbial Narcissus, the obsession blocks the soul’s continued development – because it has stopped.

Imagine Michael Jackson’s addiction to plastic surgery after 1,000 years. On second thought . . . don’t. God be with him.

Imagine having to endure 10,000 years with a bad temper. You would lose friends and have to live with that accompaniment of regret for 10,000 years.

For example, what if you can’t cure your temper? What if you lived for a million years with your temper, and lost 10,000 friends, and had to live with that regret? And you had a perfect memory for that million years. What if you knew you would live forever, continually blowing your fuse and losing friends?

That would be sort of like Hell. Perhaps Hell is ultimately a place people make.

So, it behooves one to think about eternity, not only as a safe place for happiness, but also as a happy place that must be kept safe. We’re IT. Endurance is part of the equation. Behavior doesn’t just happen – it is practiced.

“But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

The word “endure” implies a state in which continued assaults are repelled. Here is an active, practiced insinuation that projects into the concept of eternity. In an ultimate pragmatic sense, I don’t want to be afraid of eternity. I want it to be fabulous and exciting. I’ll play it safe then, I’ll work out my salvation and surrender my faults...

... to my Savior.

Milton