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What is This “Eternal Life?”
By guest blogger, Phil Hovatter

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12

I’d guess that most Christians think of eternal life as life in Heaven — you know, “pie in the sky in the sweet by-and-by.” I believe that if we think of this eternal life only as a future thing, we miss much of the blessing it offers us for the here-and-now.

In John 11:25, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” Taken in the context that it was spoken (the resurrection of Lazarus), He means that this eternal life starts right now. Yes, Lazarus will be raised to eternal life on the last day, but Jesus also brought him back to life the very day He spoke these words. Eternal life is something we can take hold of here and now. It doesn’t start when we die. It starts here and now for all those who trust in Jesus for the life that only He can give.

So what is this “eternal life?”

• Eternal life is the Jesus-authored life. Scripture says that Jesus is the author of all life. In John 14:6, Jesus told us that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He went on to make a significant statement: “No one comes to the Father but by me.”
  • Eternal life, then, is a life lived through Jesus that gives us access to God the Father and the heavenly realm. Access to God is not possible without Christ.
• Eternal life is the Christ-centered life. As we focus on Him, we gain His eternal perspective on the events and situations that come our way.
  • Eternal life is all about living out, experiencing, walking in all that God has for us. In this earthly phase, that’s going to mean times of suffering and pain as well as times of joy and pleasure. But James instructs us to take a different view of these things and to count the suffering and pain as pure joy because it builds godly character into us which helps us to draw closer to God (James 1:2).
• Eternal life is also a cross-centered life. The cross is the means by which Jesus purchased eternal life for us. Because our sin was great, the price He paid to redeem us was great.
  • The challenge for each of us is to walk worthy of the price Jesus paid to be able to offer His eternal life as a free gift to us. Part of the life He is calling us to is to die daily to ourselves. It’s a paradox that our eternal life involves dying daily, but there you go – it’s true nonetheless.

In this present earthly life, there are only two things that last forever: the Word of God, which will never pass away, and human beings, all of whom are created in the image of God. So those two things must be our focus – they must be priorities for us as we walk out eternal life.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 9:10 am and is filed under Blessed Life, Christian Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.