The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“Relational, Durational”
The Lord Jesus Christ defined the primary meaning of eternal life not in terms of duration, but of relation.
“This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
The Greek root word for “know” in this passage - “ginosko” - suggests a knowledge based on experience, as opposed to mere mental awareness. Who we will forever know, as opposed to how long we will live, must form our primary understanding of the eternal life God gives to all who trust the Lord Jesus. Certainly we rejoice in everlasting life to come. We rejoice even more in the prospect of forever in the presence of the infinitely good and great One for whom our hearts were made. “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” I John 5:20).
The Apostle John declares that born again believers in Christ already “have eternal life,”clearly referring to our personal knowledge of God (I John 5:13). Albeit limited in our present existence in comparison to what we will experience in eternity to come, Christians by definition already know God through Christ and the Holy Spirit’s illumination in our hearts. “The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God” (Romans 8:16). This constitutes the very essence of what it means to be a Christian, namely, the relational reality for which God made human beings. Such a marvel has become resident in us through the free gift of His grace in the Lord Jesus. While our Heavenly eternity will involve a far greater experience of knowing our Lord, the fact remains that we know Him already. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4:6).
If we know the Lord now, and if He exists as an infinite Being beyond measure, the blessed truth lies before us that we can always know Him better. This will forever be true in light of “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ephesians 3:8). It is true today. We do well to join Moses in the request, “Show me Thy glory” (Exodus 33:18). The realization and expectation that God desires to be known will prepare us for growth in the essence of eternal life, namely, to know Him. Nothing else in our lives begins to compare with this relational wonder already initiated, and this durational wonder that will never end.
“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
(II Peter 3:18)
Weekly Memory Verse
“The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
(Luke 19:10)
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