For a number of years I regularly met a friend for lunch and bible study. He was dilly-dallying around the border of the kingdom; not willing to make an actual commitment to Christ. We spent a lot of time talking about forgiveness of sins, as well we should. As far as I know he never accepted the Savior. But in thinking back, I wonder if I did much to communicate the rest of the enchilada to him. The expression in the scriptures that we translate “eternal life” could also be translated “life of the age” specifically the age to come. If we translated it that way it would be more apparent that were not talking about merely the duration of that life, but of the nature of it. Yes, it’s eternal, but it’s also a certain type or quality of life. It’s real, true life. And in that sense it’s both a future hope and a present experience. Jesus reflects this in a number of his statements:
Jesus offers real life:
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly (Jn. 10:10)
And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent (Jn. 17:3)
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will (Jn. 5:21)
29Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the
gospel, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10:29–30)but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. (Jn. 20:31)
But there’s a choice that must be made:
25For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matthew 16:25–26)
He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life (Jn. 12:25)
We have to choose between our life and the life that He offers us.
I remember when I was a kid there was a line of trading cards that had weird sayings and bizarre pictures. One of them read, “I are a self-made man.” The accompanying picture had a cartoon man with a foot on backwards, his head attached to his shoulder, two arms on one side, and so forth. It was a strange thing to sell to kids for trading, but it was an ironic summary of how we live life on our own terms.
What is our life like on its own? What is the nature of this life that we cling to with such a death grip; so unwilling to let go? Well there is some good in it. God has given us “from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” (Acts 14:17). And yet there’s a great deal more that is not good. We often try to bury or forget the difficult, painful parts of life. But when we’re brutally honest with ourselves, we have to admit that beneath the surface our lives have painful and difficult foundation filled with: fear, anger, wounds, bitterness, hardships, betrayals, failures, frustrations, wrecked-marriages, broken relationships, strife, vain toil, tears, and in the end failing health and death. That’s the life that we cling to!
And what is this life that Jesus offers? Jesus made it clear that it’s not a bed of roses when He said: “in the world you have tribulation. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” But in the midst of that we can actually have: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and inner strength.” We could add to that things like, godliness, integrity, hope, purpose, companionship, and the expectation of being raised to a life where God himself wipes away our tears, eliminates all pain, and give us the right to the tree of life and the river of the water of life.
What a stark contrast between the life that we live on our own and the life that He offers us. So here’s the trade: Jesus says, “If you’ll give up your life, then I will give you mine.” That’s it!? That’s the bargain of all bargains. Why would we cling to our own life when we can have His? It’s really about control. We are so passionate about maintaining control of our lives that we will fly the crashing plane of our lives into the ground rather than let him (or anyone) have the controls so that he can fly us to safety.
Frank Sinatra’s old song, “I did it my way,” comes to mind. At the end of a broken life, filled with wreckage, bitterness, and pain we can defiantly say, “At I least I did it my way.” Or at the end of a true, real life characterized by love, joy, peace, patience; a life that made a difference now and in the age to come; a life molded into the character of Christ; a life that extends into the age to come, we can sing and shout for joy: “I did it His way!” Which life do you want?
We have the negative picture of the parent who imposes their dreams on their son or daughter and they end up living the parent’s dream instead of their own. We think that if we accept the life that God has for us we will end up slaves, but in truth we will end up free! And we’ll end up living the life that we were designed to live that is far beyond what we could ever dreamed or hoped for.
