Eternal Living || 1 John 5:12 || Weekend Wind-Down #16

Welcome to the sixteenth week of “Weekend Wind-Down.” This series is where we take the verse of the day, look at the face value interpretation, check the background and context of the verse, do a deeper dive on the focus scripture, and figure out what we can walk away with. 

Today’s verse is 1 John 5:12, which says this: 

12 – Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. 

Face Value

We need to follow Christ if we want to live genuinely and authentically.

Background

John wrote this letter to reassure Christians of their faith and counter the false teachings they’ve heard. 

John talks about how God is life and how we can have faith in God. We’re a part of the family of God when we become Christians. Jesus showed us that life wouldn’t be easy if we followed up, but the hard work and self-discipline that comes with it will feel worth it for those that genuinely want to follow him. One of the false teachings that were going around was that Jesus was only the Messiah between the time of his baptism and death. This belief isn’t true because Jesus died on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sins. It could only be valid with God’s mercy leading the way.

Deep Dive

We don’t need to wait for eternal life because we have it when we believe in Christ. We don’t need to work for it because it is already ours when we believe. We don’t need to worry about it because God has guaranteed it to us. 

John 3:16 says: 

16 – “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

God sets the pattern of true love: when you love someone dearly, you are willing to give to them freely, to the point of self-sacrifice. When we share the Good News with others, our love must be like Jesus’ – willing to give up our comfort and security so that others might join us in receiving God’s love. 

There is no death, sickness, enemy, evil, or sin in eternal life. Eternal life can be entirely different than how we live now if we ask Jesus for new life. From that point, we can evaluate all that happens to you from an eternal perspective, and you will begin to look forward to eternity, honestly. 

When we believe, we do more than intellectually acknowledge who Jesus is. We put our trust and confidence in him so he alone can save us. Believing in him is trusting his words as reliable and relying on him for the power to change.

John 5:24 says:

24 – “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.” 

Eternal life begins the moment you accept Jesus as your Savior. The rest of your life will go better for you, even though you may face hardships because you are living in fellowship with God, who loves you. Even though we’ll endure a physical death, we will be resurrected to life forever. 

John 14:6 says: 

6 – Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

Jesus says that he’s the only way to God. Some people look down on Christianity because it’s too exclusive and narrow. It’s wide enough for all of us to accept Jesus, but some people go their way.

John 17:2-3 says:

2 – For you have given him authority over everyone. He gives eternal life to each one you have given him. 

3 – And this is the way to have eternal life – to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. 

We get eternal life by knowing God the Father himself through Jesus. It requires us to enter into a personal relationship with God through Jesus. When we admit our sin and turn away from it, Jesus’ love lives in us through the Holy Spirit.

Take-Home Point

We need to get to know Jesus, enter a relationship with God, and gain eternal life. We looked at many scriptures that talked about how we can get eternal life by knowing who God is and being in a relationship with him. We don’t get eternal life by working for it, nor do we have to wait on it because we obtain it when we believe. We don’t have to worry about losing it because God guarantees it. We must continue believing in God and being in a relationship with him. 

This relationship with God represents love. God shows us how love should look, based on what I discussed in John 3:16. It’s a mindset of being willing to give to your partner, even to the point of sacrificing what you want. There’s give and take with this mindset regarding human-to-human relationships. God proved this mindset works by sending his Son as a sacrifice for us. It allows us to live eternally. How can we live knowing that our work doesn’t finish when we die but continues for eternity? It gives us a great place to reflect on our life choices and decide if our living will be a blessing for eternity or if it needs to change. These are good reflection questions for you and me. 

How we live eternally starts when we choose to follow Christ. I started my genuine and authentic relationship with God in my early 20s as I went through a lot mentally, physically, and spiritually after my grandpa’s health started declining. Before, I was doing things because I was supposed to. This mindset may sound the same, but it differed significantly. I went from an “I should do this” mindset to a “I want to do this” mindset. When I started shifting my mind, I saw many different changes happening. I’m also not saying that this is an overnight change. It’s the changes that I have seen since that point to this date. The goodness of God appears through my family, friends, ministry, church communities, and even this blog! Plenty of hardships have happened during that time, but I haven’t succumbed to them. I’ve come close and felt like giving up many times, but God holds the victory. If victory happens, I can’t say all my battles were worthless. I might lose them, but those losses are God’s wins too. 

Thank you for joining me for this Weekend Wind-Down as we explored eternal life through the teachings of John the Apostle. Stay tuned for the next reflection. Let me close out with prayer. 

Dear God, thank you for the gift of eternal life and for getting to know your Son through the blessings and teachings of your Word. Please help us to embrace an eternal life mindset and what it means to leave this life authentically and genuinely. It’s in your name; we pray. Amen.