Daily Scripture: John 5:19 Therefore, Yeshua said this to them: “Yes, indeed! I tell you that the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does too. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does; and he will show him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 Just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so too the Son makes alive anyone he wants. 22 The Father does not judge anyone but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever fails to honor the Son is not honoring the Father who sent him. 24 Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One who sent me has eternal life — that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over from death to life!
1 John 5:11 And this is the witness: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Those who have the Son have the life; those who do not have the Son of God do not have the life. 13 I have written you these things so that you may know that you have eternal life — you who keep trusting in the person and power of the Son of God.
Reflection Questions:
Reflection Questions:
We often see “the life everlasting” as only far off in the future. But in John 5:24 John showed Jesus using the present tense: “I assure you that whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me HAS eternal life…HAS passed from death into life.” Methodism’s founder John Wesley hit a crucial turning point when he quit “wishing” or “hoping” to be saved. He recorded the change in these words: “An assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
- Christian faith certainly looks to the future with hope. But the writings associated with John regularly put the idea of “eternal life” in the present tense (cf. John 3:36, 5:24, 6:47, 54, 10:28, as well as today’s reading). How have you “passed from death into life”? What is one aspect of your life where you are experiencing the eternal quality of life now, before your physical death ever happens?
- The Message captured what Wesley meant by the word “assurance” by phrasing 1 John 5:13 this way: “My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life.” Do you have that kind of confidence that God truly accepts you? In what ways has living with assurance created space in your life for you to experience the “fruit of the Spirit:” love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (cf. Galatians 5:22-23)?
Today’s Prayer:
Lord God, I choose to pass from death into life right now. Please keep quietly creating in me the whole new quality of “eternal life.” Empower me to choose you and your kingdom more and more. Amen.
Insights from Dr. Mike Graves
Dr. Mike Graves is McElvaney Professor of Preaching and Worship at Saint Paul School of Theology. Ordained in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, he has spent more than 25 years helping to prepare persons for ministry.
I didn’t really grow up in church, so when I graduated from high school my life goals could be summarized in one phrase: “to grow my hair really long.” This was the ’70s, and I was really successful at reaching that goal. Not having a spiritual background per se, I perceived Christianity from the outside and concluded that all they cared about was getting people “saved,” saved from an eternity in hell. I may not have paid close attention in math class, but eternity was not a hard concept to grasp. Symbolized by that figure 8 turned on its side, it was how time marches on forever and ever.
When I finally did become a Christian at the end of my freshman year in college, I was surprised to learn that when the Bible speaks about “eternal life,” it has nothing to do with a quantity of time, but rather a quality of life here and now. Maybe “eternal” isn’t really the best interpretation. Maybe a “full” life would be more accurate. I finally understood that what Jesus offers isn’t a ticket punched for the final train to heaven when you die, but a fullness of life here in the present even when you’re stuck in traffic on I-435.
But if one trap is thinking Christianity is only about a future in heaven, another is thinking it’s limited to the past in ancient Israel. The theologian Harvey Cox tells the story of a woman in New Mexico calling an operator to place a call to Jerusalem. The operator said, “Oh, honey, Jerusalem is in the Bible. It’s not a real city.”
Maybe the most important feature in these two passages is the use of present tense: “whoever has the Son has eternal life” (1 Jn 5:12). It may not be good grammar, but in the ’70s we might have said it this way: “The present is where’s it at.”
Return to the GPS Guide to read today’s scripture and reflection questions.
Dr. Mike Graves is McElvaney Professor of Preaching and Worship at Saint Paul School of Theology. Ordained in the Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, he has spent more than 25 years helping to prepare persons for ministry.
I didn’t really grow up in church, so when I graduated from high school my life goals could be summarized in one phrase: “to grow my hair really long.” This was the ’70s, and I was really successful at reaching that goal. Not having a spiritual background per se, I perceived Christianity from the outside and concluded that all they cared about was getting people “saved,” saved from an eternity in hell. I may not have paid close attention in math class, but eternity was not a hard concept to grasp. Symbolized by that figure 8 turned on its side, it was how time marches on forever and ever.
When I finally did become a Christian at the end of my freshman year in college, I was surprised to learn that when the Bible speaks about “eternal life,” it has nothing to do with a quantity of time, but rather a quality of life here and now. Maybe “eternal” isn’t really the best interpretation. Maybe a “full” life would be more accurate. I finally understood that what Jesus offers isn’t a ticket punched for the final train to heaven when you die, but a fullness of life here in the present even when you’re stuck in traffic on I-435.
But if one trap is thinking Christianity is only about a future in heaven, another is thinking it’s limited to the past in ancient Israel. The theologian Harvey Cox tells the story of a woman in New Mexico calling an operator to place a call to Jerusalem. The operator said, “Oh, honey, Jerusalem is in the Bible. It’s not a real city.”
Maybe the most important feature in these two passages is the use of present tense: “whoever has the Son has eternal life” (1 Jn 5:12). It may not be good grammar, but in the ’70s we might have said it this way: “The present is where’s it at.”
Return to the GPS Guide to read today’s scripture and reflection questions.
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