1 John 5:11-15
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and that life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has life. The one who doesn't have the Son of God, does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Now this is the confidence we have before Him, whenever we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know we have what we have asked Him for.
Do you believe in the name of the Son of God? Do you believe in Jesus? If so, do you know that you have eternal life? This is what John is telling us --- imploring to us --- so that we can life confidently in this life, living expectantly for the life to come.
How do you react when you hear dates prophesied for Christ's return as we recently have? Do you, like most of us, say, "Well if someone is picking that day, then you can be pretty sure it won't be that day, because the Bible says, 'No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.' (Matthew 24:36)" Then are you secretly just a bit glad that you've dismantled the prophetic statement so that you can feel comfortable in thinking that Christ's return isn't quite as imminent as some off-based prophet is announcing to the world?
Or do you possibly think, "Probably not that day, but the eternal life that I know is mine may be about to begin...the life that I have longed for could be very close...maybe this could be the dawning of that day!"
IF we know, as John so desperately wants us to know, that we have eternal life, no doubt about it, then we should be anxiously awaiting Christ's return...it should be the absolute desire of our heart. The only thing that should cause us to request a delay is the opportunity to win more people over to Jesus so that they too can have eternal life...so that they too may believe in the name of the Son of God...Jesus, name above all names.
For those of us who believe in the Son of God, we need to start living lives that reflect our knowledge of our future. Confident, joyous, victorious lives that become so noticeable to others that they will not be able to walk away from us without asking, "What do you know that I don't?"
And what do you know? Oh...you know quite a lot, don't you? Get ready to share!
1 comment:
You are right. We need to lead our lives in a manner that others take notice and realize that we are leading Christ filled lives. Lives with such confidence that we stand firm in our belief of eternal life. We need to keep smiling as you previously said, keep following God's Word and His teachings. I want to continue with my life here on earth. I feel that I want to have the earthly experiences of relationships here on earth - with my family. It is the earthly desires of the human heart, but I know my desire to live in Heaven free from pain is also a real belief in Jesus. It is a conflict inside of me. I don't fully understand. But I do have faith in
Christ. I believe that through my belief in Christ I will have eternal life.
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