Eternity Amnesia

In the preface to his book, Forever: Why You Can't Live Without It, Paul David Tripp writes:

"It became increasingly clear that many of the people I counseled were struggling because there was a critical element in their story that they either never knew or had completely forgotten. And it wasn't too long after reaching this conclusion that I began to admit to myself that I was more like the people I counseled than unlike them.

"Like them, I often lived as an eternity amnesiac (emphasis mine). I, too, often lived with the unrealistic expectations and functional hopelessness that always results when you tell yourself that this life you have right here, right now, is all there is. I was confronted with the fact that in very significant ways, at street level, we don't always live in a way consistent with what we confess to believe.

"The story of the Bible doesn't end with this world that we are all living in right now. What would seem like the last chapter, death, really isn't the last chapter in God's story. The Bible welcomes and requires you to face the inescapable reality of life after death. This present life is not all there is. There is a forever on the other side of this life. Eternity is not a mystical creation of overly spiritual people. Forever is a reality. It is the product of God's plan and design. And once you believe in forever and live with forever in view, not only will you understand things you have never understood before, but you will live in a radically different way than you did before."

Candy's thoughts: I'm certainly not a doctor, but it seems to me like eternity amnesia is a very serious condition, one that needs constant monitoring. It also sounds like it might very well be a contagious infection. If we surround ourselves with others suffering from this disease, I'm guessing we'll soon be exhibiting the same symptoms. What to do? I know that this book, which has been on my shelf for about seven years, is about to be thoroughly and carefully read and shared with all of you in hopes that together we can be free of this diagnosis. Having read many of this author's other books, I'm sure that he will have just the right treatment plan to get us back to where we should be -  living joyfully with an eternal perspective.