Eternal Life - Part 2

The other day I was thinking about eternal life and I think I will focus on that again, because it was so integral to the message Jesus brought. The synoptic Gospels only cover this topic briefly, in the story about the rich young man, or ruler, asking what he needed to do to inherit eternal life, or in the discussion about the judgement that will happen at the end of the ages, a total of 8 times in all three Gospels combined. In the Gospel of John, however, Jesus is quoted as speaking about Eternal life 16 times.

Starting with the basics in the synoptic Gospels, we already briefly discussed the concept of eternal life. In the following verse, Jesus adds some more insight.

Matthew 19:28-30 NIV:
[28] "Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [29] And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. [30] But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."

The very clear expectation from this verse is that eternal life follows the renewal of all things and happens after Jesus is enthroned in Heaven. Secondly, our experience of eternal life is in some way impacted by our life here. The impact will be caused by our motivation, those things that we did for His sake, will impact our life. As one of my favorite authors says, “You get one pass at life. That’s all. Only one. And the lasting measure of that life is Jesus Christ.” ― John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life. He quoted his father in one book as saying the only thing that will last into eternal life are those things we do for Jesus sake, which is rooted in this scripture.

So my encouragement today is to make my life and this day count, making it eternally impactful. I can do this by aligning my life with His purpose, and doing all for Him. Lord, help me, help all of us to have an eternally significant day.