Brand-New Life!

People often talk about eternal life like it’s some thing, like it’s a coupon for heaven or a gift package when we get there. Or we might think of eternal life as a life that is far off, in the future, to be lived later. For us right now, eternal life might be seen as something that we read about in a book or talk about in a building that we sit in for an hour a week.

But eternal life isn’t your life made better. And eternal life isn’t your life made longer. Eternal life is Christ’s life.

So when we receive eternal life, we actually receive a Person, his life. In John 14:19, Jesus says that we will live forever because he lives forever. Colossians 3:4 tells us that Christ is our life. If we were to lose eternal life, it would mean we’d lose Jesus.

If we lost Jesus, we’d lose eternal life. They are one and the same. Eternal life is Jesus (1 John 5:12). And it’s his life (not merely his death) that saves us (Rom. 5:10).

To have Christ is to have salvation. Some people try to push the idea that you can have salvation but not yet have the Spirit. But these are one and the same.

To have the Spirit is to have salvation. To have salvation is to have the Spirit. The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of life (eternal life; Rom. 8:2).

You can’t have one without the other. Romans 8:9 reveals that if we don’t have the Spirit, then we don’t belong to God at all. So how much clearer can it be?

You can relax in knowing that you have all of Jesus that you’ll ever need, right from the start. You don’t need to go shopping for more of Jesus. And when someone comes knocking, telling you that you need this spiritual gift (to be like them), or that second blessing, or an extra dosage of the Spirit, remember that you already have everything you need for life and godliness. You are complete, and you don’t lack anything (Col. 2:9–19; 2 Pet. 1:3).

Many today actually glorify the search for more. They tell us that we need to “hunger” for more of God. They tell us that we should “thirst” for more of Jesus.

All the while, the Son of God announces the polar opposite: “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).

So rest in what you have. You have all the Jesus you’ll ever need (2 Pet. 1:3). And he is enough!

(from the book Relaxing with God by Andrew Farley)

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