Benefit #3 — Eternal Life

This is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on me with respect, and believes in me, will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day. John 6:40

Life is more than living isn’t it? We can exist but not be alive. We can breathe and eat and act, but not really live. What makes the difference? Isn’t the difference in the quality of life we lead? The better the quality of life, the more alive we are. We must be careful though about how we determine quality: According to Jesus, life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. This is equally true of friends, family, job and church. These all make life more than it would be otherwise. But they don’t make life eternal. What makes life all that it should be? Knowing “the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent” makes life really living. Jesus says this is “eternal life.” Having firsthand, experiential, ongoing knowledge of God makes life eternal in two ways: First, when God is personally involved with us, the relationship lasts as long as God lasts—eternally; “he is the God of the living, not of the dead.” Second, all that God is for us in Jesus is so satisfying that we will not thirst for anything else; our lives will be so completely full that they will continue on into eternity: “To live is Christ.”

Lord, again today I commit my life, body and soul, into your capable and infinitely satisfying hands.  Amen.