Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

I used to think of eternal life as future tense. Today I’m here. Tomorrow I die. Then I live forever. Simple. 

John has a different view of eternal life. He says,  
    The life [which was from the beginning] appeared.
      We have seen it and
      we proclaim to you the eternal life,
            which was with the father and has appeared to us (1 Jn 1:1-2).

Here, John identifies Jesus, the hybrid God-man, as “eternal life”. This eternal life is not a “state of being” but a person. That’s weird. 

Later, John says:
  God has given us eternal life and this life is in his son” (1 Jn 5:11). 

This eternal life is a gift God has already given us. But what about death? Is that just a bump in the road where the wheels come off my body, but my inner life continues undisturbed? 

John also says, 
 God the father is the true God and eternal life,
      And we are in him,
              because we are in his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 5:20).

Here, God is eternal life.

I draw two conclusions: 

First, John doesn’t give a rational definition of eternal life. Instead, he looks at Jesus, whom he knew, who was raised from the dead. John says, That kind of life is in our future too.     

Second, John says, That’s not all. It’s not just future tense, it’s in our present. Why? Because Jesus, the one who lives forever, lives in us. 

The true measure of my life is not sickness or health, poverty or wealth. No, its dimensions are set by the source of life that lives in me. Since that source is Jesus,I’m already living my forever life with him. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, today is a day of our eternal life.
  It is a day for praising you, because we will praise you forever.
  It is a day for listening to your spirit, for your spirit will speak to us forever.
  It is a day for receiving Christ’s blessing, for he will bless us forever.
  It is a day for loving our neighbor, for we will be neighbors forever. 

Today is also a day of struggle.
  This harvest of new life grows side by side with the weeds of the old life.
  This life that dies is a companion to a life that lives forever.
  The war between good and evil still rages in my body and my mind. 

O father, bring quickly that day when your children will be free, when the old life will be  lost, and the new life will live forever. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

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