Permanence

Recently, the word permanence is one you might say has found permanence in my mind. I’ve been dedicating significant thought to the incredible reality that some things truly last forever. Humans from the dawn of time have been fascinated with thoughts of eternity. Countless books have been written and movies have been made dealing with themes of immortality. Just this morning, I read about Calypso’s tantalizing offer of eternal youth and vigor to Odysseus in “The Odyssey,” a tale penned thousands of years ago. Our hearts cry out for eternity while our bodies age and begin to waste away. If only we could extend our lifespans and maintain our youth, we might find true happiness.

But there is a dark side to immortality.

Consider James Islington’s Licanius Trilogy, a story filled with gripping dialogues between immortals weighed down by their protracted lifespans. Imagine the anguish of living an eternity with multiple lifetimes worth of regrets, pains, and losses. But the thirst for immortality has been with man since the very beginning. The Book of Genesis tells of the very first sin our race committed: disobedience in an attempt to become like God. What is it that makes immortality so terrifying yet heart-achingly appealing?

The key comes in the distinguishment between permanence and immortality. The idea of permanence could be defined as something lasting indefinitely without change. On the other hand, immortality merely extends one’s lifetime indefinitely. It might shelter someone from the negative effects of aging, but it actually provides the immortal with vastly more time to change than a mortal would have. The immortal’s own fallen nature is a constant companion in a fallen world, always subjected to the ravages of evil and the torment of a soul that will never find rest. The immortal lives on in a world plagued by death and decay, chasing eternal satisfaction while mortals pass through death, beginning the eternity that awaits everyone on the other side of this brief life.

All of us on planet Earth are creatures of eternity. Life on this hurtling rock is just a breath before the eternity that comes after death. We were made for eternal communion with a good God, but Adam’s sin brought death into the world. The longing for eternity remains, but it will only ever be corrupted without the saving grace of God. Those of us who do not know Jesus Christ who died to save His people from the wrath of God cannot escape immortality. The fate of the immortal in the previous paragraph becomes the fate of those who reject the Savior: eternal torment apart from the smile of God. But those who turn from sin and put full trust in the Redeemer find the only true rock of permanence to ever exist: the God of the Bible. He is unchanging in glory, the perfection of all virtues from eternity past to eternity future. And it is He alone who can satisfy our desire to live forever in a perfect world filled with His glorious permanence.