Scripture: John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Thought for the Day: A wonderful book review at the men’s prayer meeting yesterday morning got me to thinking about the single best known passage in the Christian Scriptures. Two words standout–believe and eternal. Marcus Borg and other respected scholars remind us that the word believe historically described, not knowledge (ie I believe this fact and that fact about God), but to belove or adore. We don’t desire to comprehend or simply appreciate certain truths about God, but to enter into an intimate relationship with God. It is not facts that we desire, but a life-giving love affair.
The word eternal is usually associated with heaven, but that shortchanges the word we have here. The Greek word Aionios does not describe a place or destination, but a segment of time. It describes that which is without beginning or end. The only life that has no beginning and no end is the God-life, and so John’s Gospel is not describing our entry exam into heaven, but this amazing love that brings us into the fullness of God. It doesn’t begin at that point when our heart ceases to beat. Instead, the moment we enter into a loving relationship with God we are joining an experience that had already existed. The Eternal Life is not where we are going, but who we are as those who have fallen in love with the Eternal One, the initiator of this loving relationship.
Prayer: Great God who first loved me, I celebrate your invitation that brings me into the fullness of life right here and right now. Amen.
