I have been pondering this question the last few days as I have been thinking about what it means to follow Christ and what the gift of eternal life really means for us. I believe that scripture answers this question clearly, but our own answers may differ.
Many of us who grew up in the church may not know anything else but to be in church on Sunday morning and the share the good news of who Christ is. Some of us can point to an instance in our lives and say "that's where God captured my heart." Some of us are going through the motions of prayer and Bible study or show up at Christmas and Easter but have nothing more than a foundational level of understanding when it comes to the Gospel message. Still many of us have never heard the message. What draws us to the Gospel? What makes following Christ not only the right decision, but the most important decision of our lives?The Testimony and the life of Jesus Christ provide us with the answer like this passage from John 5:36-40:
"I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
The testimony of Jesus is a testimony that brings eternal life. He is the one who is prophesied about in the Old Testament , the one whom about Isaiah is speaking when he says,
"Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan -- The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."(vv.9:1-2)
Jesus has come to bring eternal life, the Light of the world to all nations. We don't believe in Christ because we fear hell or death. We believe in Christ because he brings life to all who will kneel before Him. When you turn on the light in a dark room, it completely obliterates the darkness. It doesn't creep slowly out the door, the darkness disappears. When Christ shines his light into our life, the darkness is gone forever. The victory is won. Jesus says in John 17 that eternal life is simply "that [we] may know [God], the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [God has] sent" (v. 3). This verse rings throughout me heart and my life.
I grew up in the church going through the motions. God didn't mean anything to me. It was just what I had to do on Sundays. God captured my heart as a junior in high school and he wrecked my life. He made me reevaluate my career choice, my relationships, my attitudes, and he continues to chisel away at the pieces of me that aren't pleasing to him so that he can reveal himself in me. It's painful sometimes, but this is why I believe.
God has created me to live forever in His presence, but our Holy Father can't be in the presence of our sin. He hates being apart from us so he sends Jesus to die for our sins and the sins of the world so that this great chasm can be closed. He frees us from our sin, our burdens, and the bondage that society places on us to be beautiful, wealthy, independent, strong, popular, or whatever pressures we place on ourselves to fit the mold. God has called us to completion and to a higher purpose through His son. He frees us from ourselves and then he gives us a mission and a purpose. He tells us to go. He says I have loved you and have freed you, now let me use you to help free others.
This isn't just my conviction, it's the truth of the Gospel. God is the only one who can save the world. We are just pawns on the chess board, but he guided the hearts of others to reach out to you, to teach you, to live out the example of the life of Christ, so that you may be drawn to his heart and be freed by the power of the Gospel, that you would know His heart. This is eternal life, that we would know our Father and His son and that through them we are free. This is why we follow: it is what we were created to do.
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