How does it end?!?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Those 3 words bring me more frustration when I'm watching a TV show than anything else. What do you mean I don't get to find out what happens right now?!? Why should I have to wait for the answers I want? I can google just about any of answer I'd like, but I can't find out what happens on my favorite show.

I would argue that is why TV show BINGE watching has become so popular. When you binge watch 8 seasons of a show from start to finish, you get that instant gratification. You don't need to spend a week waiting to find out what happens, you just wait a few seconds for your next episode to load and BOOM, you get your answers. You get your ending and the story's conclusion.

I feel our search for the ending and conclusion for things is normal. We as a people want to know how stories end. We are taught from an early age of reading books that there needs to be a definite ENDING. Cinderella riding away with her prince into the sunset. Do they have kids or a happy life in the castle? We don't know for sure but we can certainly ASSUME so. We know enough that we are happy to move on to the next story.

But what do we do with a God who has no beginning or end? One of the questions I get EVERY year from the kids in my 6th grade confirmation class is, "What happened before Genesis 1?" Before God made the world, what was it like?  I tell them God was there. They always look at me confused and say, but why? or what? What did it look like with just God?

I always tell them the same thing, I don't know. I can't imagine. It's beyond my spectrum of understanding.

Similar questions then arise on the ending. What happens when we die? What happens when the world ends? All these questions flying out of the mouths of 12 year olds. They, like you and me, want to know the WHOLE story. They have read Cinderella too.

And this is where reliance on knowledge ends and faith begins!

God is NOT a TV show. The reality of our life with God is some questions will always go unanswered. We do not know the specifics of life before the Bible and we don't have a clear picture of what exactly eternal life in Heaven looks like. We have to give up our thirst of knowing all the specifics and details about God and instead put ALL our faith in God. The books of Hebrews expertly sums this up in two verses: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and  assurance about what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for. (Hebrews Chapter 11- Read through this and see the power of faith throughout the Bible)

All I truly know is my faith in God will someday lead me to eternal life in Heaven. Even though I don't know exactly what that picture looks like, I can imagine it will be better than any ending I could ever see on TV.