God has given us eternal life!
Has given....past tense...it is available to us now. Eternal life is ours to take hold of now. We don't have to wait until we leave this life to know that we have eternal life. We can have that assurance now when we accept God's gift.
The gift has been presented...what do you do with the gift that is being held out for you? Have you accepted this most wonderful gift? If not, what is keeping you from doing so? If you have, do you fully realize what you have been given?
According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:
Eternal life...aijwvnioß zwhv...ahee-o'-nee-os dzo-ay'
Without end, never to cease, everlasting --- life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last for ever.
This is what God is ready to give to all of us. Eternal life that begins now and never ends. I love the descriptive words Strong's uses...real, genuine, active, vigorous, devoted to God, blessed...who would turn down a life of that quality?
There is life without God, and superficially it can seem like a good life. But where is the center of that life? The center of a godless life is self. Some altruistic atheist might argue that statement, but I would counter that even the most giving non-believer does so to elevate self in some manner...whether it be in the regard of others, social status, or within their own ego. Without a "god" motivation, the only reason to do good is to make yourself feel good. And no matter how much good you do, deep down in the core of your being, you know you are not good.
When our lives become God-centered, we have a new life because God gives us eternal life --- a life that we know will have no end. God shows us that our lives have eternal purpose and that everything we do now has a vitality to it that, apart from God, is not possible. We are motivated to do good because we want to please our God who has given us this wonderful gift...His purposes are now our purposes. We know that without Him guiding our lives, we have no goodness of our own; but we know that our lack of goodness has been replaced with His absolute and perfect goodness. We are not futilely striving to do good independently, we are allowing God to do good through us.
I hope some of this makes sense to someone else besides me! As I write, I am amazed at what I am learning...this really is a new life we have been given. Please don't miss this gift...a gift that starts now and continues throughout eternity!
Has given....past tense...it is available to us now. Eternal life is ours to take hold of now. We don't have to wait until we leave this life to know that we have eternal life. We can have that assurance now when we accept God's gift.
The gift has been presented...what do you do with the gift that is being held out for you? Have you accepted this most wonderful gift? If not, what is keeping you from doing so? If you have, do you fully realize what you have been given?
According to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:
Eternal life...aijwvnioß zwhv...ahee-o'-nee-os dzo-ay'
Without end, never to cease, everlasting --- life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last for ever.
This is what God is ready to give to all of us. Eternal life that begins now and never ends. I love the descriptive words Strong's uses...real, genuine, active, vigorous, devoted to God, blessed...who would turn down a life of that quality?
There is life without God, and superficially it can seem like a good life. But where is the center of that life? The center of a godless life is self. Some altruistic atheist might argue that statement, but I would counter that even the most giving non-believer does so to elevate self in some manner...whether it be in the regard of others, social status, or within their own ego. Without a "god" motivation, the only reason to do good is to make yourself feel good. And no matter how much good you do, deep down in the core of your being, you know you are not good.
When our lives become God-centered, we have a new life because God gives us eternal life --- a life that we know will have no end. God shows us that our lives have eternal purpose and that everything we do now has a vitality to it that, apart from God, is not possible. We are motivated to do good because we want to please our God who has given us this wonderful gift...His purposes are now our purposes. We know that without Him guiding our lives, we have no goodness of our own; but we know that our lack of goodness has been replaced with His absolute and perfect goodness. We are not futilely striving to do good independently, we are allowing God to do good through us.
I hope some of this makes sense to someone else besides me! As I write, I am amazed at what I am learning...this really is a new life we have been given. Please don't miss this gift...a gift that starts now and continues throughout eternity!
1 comment:
I like your thought that it is God working through and in our lives to lead us to live good lives. When we accept God as our Savior and, in our church, we are immersed in water during our baptism. I believe that is the time when we are reborn to live a God centered life. The symbolism of raised from life without God to live a new life with God. It is a new life. Our life with Christ is our eternal life. We will be reborn one more time when we ascend to Heaven to live our eternal lives. You are making perfect sense to me. Our Christ driven lives are new lives. We are messengers and disciples for God. God reassures us to live Christ-like lives and then we will live eternal lives.
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