Thursday, January 8, 2009

The Planting of Eternity


I love this Scripture from Ecclesiastes 3:11-He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Years ago I read a most intriguing book by Don Richardson called, “Eternity In Their Hearts” actually I read it several times, and eventually loaned it to my daughter to read.
Here is a brief bio on the book.

"Has the God who prepared the gospel for all people groups also prepared all people groups for the gospel? Don Richardson, author of the best-selling book Peace Child, has studied cultures throughout the world and found within hundreds of them startling evidence of belief in the one true God. In Eternity in Their Hearts, Richardson gives fascinating, real-life examples of ways people have exhibited in their histories terms and concepts that have prepared them for the gospel. Read how Pachacuti, the Inca king who founded Machu Picchu, the majestic fortress in Peru, accomplished something far more significant than merely building fortresses, temples or monuments. He sought, reached out and found a God far greater than any popular 'god' of his own culture. And there have been others throughout the world, like him, who lived to receive the blessing of the gospel.
Get ready to be amazed at these intriguing examples of how God uses redemptive analogies to bring all men to Himself, bearing out the truth from Ecclesiastes that God "has also set eternity in the hearts of men."

Oh to give into that divinely implanted reality that is totally available to us while momentarily living in this medium of space, time and history~”He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy.”

The harvest that is happening through out the earth is in my opinion first begun within the hearts of those he has received; He is the Lord of the harvest, he is the one who’s laboring within us, is bringing us into a knowing of whom He has already prepared to have eternity realized in the nasty-now-in-now of daily living.

Rich

1 comment:

a said...

Rich, I was reminded of my BC studies where we did a very similar study. We 'found' that even in civilizations where there had never been a gospel, the people always believed in a divine deity. There are VERY few godless civilzations! I am reminded of all those scriptures that say if man is quiet then the trees, mountains, hills, rocks, stone and His creation will declare His glory. God preaches in His own way!

I am glad that I will not be the one to determine Heaven or Hell for others. I am one of those crazy people who believes that when we get to heaven we are going to amazed at who 'got-in' and go did not.

Will we EVER understand God's passion and love for us? I think not!