(John 3:16) Whoever believes in Jesus Christ will experience eternal life.

Because of our finite minds, we perceive time as something we can understand and control.

Our lives are organized and coordinated by this thing we call time.

Our lives are measured by clocks, calendars, seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years.

And yet, the concept of time is difficult to define and explain.

In the big picture, the Bible clearly teaches that time is linear—moving from creation toward the new heaven and the new earth. Time began when God created the world.

The Bible does not teach, however, that life is cyclical, endlessly going around and around with no beginning or end. That is the worldview of Hinduism, Buddhism, and many New Age beliefs.

Unfortunately, because of our finite view of time, we too often think of eternity as something that begins only after the second coming of Christ, when human time comes to an end.

However, this is not what the Bible teaches.

Because God is the Eternal One, eternity is directly related to His presence and cannot be confined to our understanding of time.

In this light, when we experience God's presence through the Holy Spirit, we are actually (not conceptually) tasting eternity (heaven) now, within our time.

We are, in a real sense, tasting heaven while still living in time. As John 3:16 tells us, when we are born again, we receive eternal life. Eternal life is a present experience, not a future promise.

Eternal life is God's own life shared with us.

Eternity is not simply the absence of time; it is life in communion with the Eternal God.

The incarnation of Jesus Christ clearly teaches us that eternity has broken into human time.

Theologically, we speak of the "already" and the "not yet" of the kingdom (reign) of God.

In other words, we already experience God's presence, but the fullness of His kingdom is not yet.

We experience its blessings now, but we await the full consummation of God's kingdom at the second coming of Jesus Christ.

I encourage you to let the presence of the Eternal One fill your finite time.

For whenever we experience the presence of the Holy Spirit, we are experiencing life eternal.