“So all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died” (Genesis 5:27).

No one lived longer than Methuselah. No matter how advanced science is, no matter how hard a person tries, no one can manage to live longer than this patriarch.

Have you ever thought about living that many years? Living almost ten centuries is really a long time. I am inclined to say that it is more than we are able to understand.

In any case, from God’s point of view, the situation changes. For God, time has other parameters. Eternity. This is one of those words that we say and can define, but do not completely understand. It is like the word infinite. Well, those are God’s no-limits and on those bases (so different from ours), He moves and waits for us.

As incredible as it seems to us, our God wants to share His eternity and His infinity with us finite and limited human beings. I don’t know how to explain it, surely because I don’t understand it, but that is how it is. That is what heaven is like—human beings enjoying divine infinity for eternity. With this way of thinking, Methuselah’s 969 years do not seem like very many.

Nevertheless, eternal life, the sea of glass, perfect landscapes, streets of gold, flowers that are impossible to imagine will not have all their value (or worse, would lose it) if Jesus is not present. He is the One who gives happiness, shine, and color to things, people, and the time lived in eternity; He gives His true meaning to heaven.

Even though we are not yet in that heavenly context, we can enjoy a little bit of that reality when—here and now—we give Christ the first place in our lives. When we allow Him to guide each one of our minutes, and not only those moments that the worship service takes on Sabbath morning; not only the seconds that our memorized prayers last.

When God speaks about walking with you, He is referring to each step, not only those you manage to take with (some) certainty. When He speaks of sharing time with you, He is not referring to accompanying you for only 969 years; He is speaking about eternity, an eternity that He wants to begin enjoying with you now.

You have a good opportunity today to sample a little of that wonderful eternal reality.