Jonathan Edwards once prayed, “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.”
This has been a near-daily prayer for me ever since I read it. It is so important to keep eternity in mind when I’m so easily sucked into the vortex of living only for the right-here-right-now.
I think having an eternal perspective makes living in the present that much more meaningful.
I’m reminded of what C.S. Lewis said on the significance of eternity:
“If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.
The apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire; the great men who built up the Middle Ages; the English evangelicals who abolished the slave trade, all left their mark on earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with heaven.
It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”
- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
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Thank you for the reminder. We might try to hide our eyes from an eternal perspective, but thinking in terms of eternity is God’s desire for us all, isn’t it? After all, “He has also set eternity in the human heart.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11.)
Tim
I love that prayer! “Lord, stamp eternity on my eyeballs.” Interesting that just today I was thinking that as I approach my 50′s (48!!!) it is easier for me to understand the eternal home we’re headed toward and how my life is about God transforming me so I’ll fit in better there.
I still barely get it, but in my 20′s and 30′s I REALLY didn’t get it. Just too hard to envision. We need that stamping on the eyeballs!