It was a plaque on one of the iron girders supporting a railroad trestle bridge. It named the builder of the bridge and the date it was built. There was the date it was completed, clearly and proudly displayed, reading “1893.” The bridge is still carrying freight traffic, so it was obviously well-built – made to last. It supported heavy rail traffic for more than one-and-a-quarter centuries, and it’s still holding up.
The plaque, however, told a different story. About a quarter of it was gone. Rust? An errant blow from something? Whatever it was, it had belied the pride of those who built the bridge and hung the plaque. It did not last.
There were other bridges in this area, long ago. Their pilings are still awash in the rivers’ flow at the confluence of the two rivers that form the greater waterway. The bridges are gone – dismantled or flooded away. Those ones were made to last, too. They didn’t survive the years and the burdens they bore. The testament to their existence and their demise stand, slowly eroding with the beating of wind, sun, water, and trees.
I think we all want things to last, whether it be traditions, possessions, relationships, or even life itself. I believe this is because our Creator has “set eternity in the hearts of men.” (See Ecclesiastes 3:11) The earlier part of that verse indicates that everything is beautiful in its time. I think we want to see that beauty, no matter how long it takes.
Of course, this also means that we usually don’t like change. If it’s for the better, we’re usually glad to see it – healing, greater prosperity, genuine peace, relationships growing in love. But when we encounter change of a different sort (even benign), we aren’t too keen on it most of the time.
God has put a sense of beauty and stability (eternity) in our souls, and we hunger for it. We want beauty in this world to last, but that’s not always good for us.
Jesus gives some excellent advice about such things. During his final (fatal) trip to Jerusalem, he predicted his death, and then told his disciples that they needed to look somewhere else for life (and beauty) that lasts. Read about it here. Madison translates verse 25 this way: “The one who loves his life is ruining it, and the one who disregards his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:25 MIT) It’s not about despising life here, but about loving what’s coming far more.
The human soul was made to last. Our Creator God never intended us to die, and warned our earliest ancestors that disobedience would have terrible and lasting consequences – the worst kind of change (see Genesis 2:15-17).
When I look at things this way, I realize that this world was not made to last, at least not after Adam and Eve sinned. I will definitely enjoy the beauty I see, but like a bouquet of wildflowers picked two days ago, it will wilt and fade. This world is fading, “in bondage to decay,” (see Romans 8:20-21), and it is our privilege to look forward to when the “glorious freedom of the children of God” comes about.
Until then, I will cling less to this world, living a godly life and looking forward more to when it is all made new, as Peter wrote about here. It will be a time when all will be made to last, including us.
What a wonderful day that will be!