This Is Eternal Life
In his prayer to the Father, Jesus defines the thing Christians most often talk about and least often define.
John 17:3NIV
John 17:3. Jesus, praying, says that this is eternal life: that they know the Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent.
Most people think of eternal life as a quantity, a life that goes on without ending. Jesus defines it as a relationship. Eternal life is knowing God. The duration follows from the knowing, because the one who is known does not die and does not let go of those he has drawn to himself. But the heart of it is not length. It is acquaintance, the kind of knowing that grows between persons over time.
This means eternal life is not only something you receive after death. It begins when knowing God begins, and it deepens in ordinary days like this one. Every time you read his word with attention, pray with honesty, or notice his hand in a small mercy, you are living the life Jesus described. It is Thursday, late July, and eternal life is available before lunch. The question is not whether you will live forever but whether you know the one who makes forever good.
More in scripture
Be Still, and Know
A short command from an old psalm asks us to stop, and tells us why.
Be Still, and Know
An ancient line, written for a frightened people, asks us to stop before it asks us to understand.
Peace That Stands Guard
When worry crowds in, an old letter offers a different way to carry it.
