For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. Jn 6: 39.
I walked up to the rental car counter in Harlingen, Texas, where I was visiting a wonderful Christian Family Medicine residency program at Valley Baptist Medical Center. As I handed the agent my license, my phone rang out loudly with the ringtone of a Christian song, “O Glorious Day”. I was embarrassed, answered as quickly as I could, completed my call and then concluded my rental car transaction. As she handed me the key, the agent said, “I needed to hear that song. My grandfather just passed away and I miss him so. Thank you.”
The truth of eternal life gives us great hope---we know this world is not enough. And it gives us far more than that. Blaise Pascal put it this way, “It affects our whole life to know whether our soul is mortal or immortal.” If mortal, “the last act is bloody; however fine the rest of the play. They throw earth over your head and it is finished forever.”
Life is either eternal or it isn’t.
God either exists and offers us life with him forever or he doesn’t.
At some time in our life we should commit. Is John 6:39 true or isn’t it?
Our commitment to the proposition of eternal life will not make it true; God does. But our commitment gives us hope and it also lays a foundation that should change every major decision we make on earth.
So many of us commit in our minds to the truth of eternal life but then dis-link it from our decision making this side of eternity. When we do so, our thinking becomes irrational. If life is eternal, it should change what I do with my money; it should change what I do with my time; it should change what I do with my relationships.
God is coming for us “One Glorious Day” and that should make a difference in the decisions I make this day.
Dear God,
Help me to live what I believe. In my confidence of eternal life, let me make earthly decisions that make eternal sense.
Amen
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