"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
{John 3:16}
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
{John 17:3}
Love is always seen as the greatest thing- the highest aspiration. Even in the world. Look anywhere in the media, you see love conquering all; money means nothing, position means nothing, stuff means nothing. Love is what everybody wants- both emotional and physical. This is where so many young people get into trouble. They go looking for the fulfillment of this longing in all the wrong places.
Jesus is the answer to this longing for love- we have that void in our hearts because He wants us to seek after Him and to desire His love for us. When we repent of our sins and ask for His forgiveness He gives us eternal life, which is what? That we may know Him. The word “know” here is the same as earlier in the Bible when is says that “Adam ‘knew’ his wife” (Genesis 4:1) which would indicate an intimate physical relationship. The Lord promises to fulfill our every desire. He is everything that we need both in the spiritual, emotional, and even physical sense.
This intimate relationship causes us to have a sense of non-negotiable commitment, as though we are “married” to the Lord and His Word. When an atheist comes up to us and tries to pin us to a wall with a “scientific” fact that disproves the existence of God, if we are not thoroughly grounded in the Word, and do not understand an intimate relationship with Him, it would be easy to falter; to doubt and to question His existence. But when we recall His love, all that He has done for us, remind ourselves of His promises; when we can see evidence of His intimacy in our lives, how can we doubt?
I know that I am in this for life; I am His beloved and He is mine- and His banner over me is love!
I read this post several times and I kept feeling like I was missing something . . . and then finally, I realized what it was.
ReplyDeleteThe idea here is that the reward of eternal life is the privilege of being in that intimate relationship with Christ. It might sound kind of silly, but I often forget that knowing God is its own reward--I'll speculate, "I wonder what Heaven will be like", and someone will say, "we'll be with God" and it seems like one of those 'easy' answers--but when you really stop to contemplate it . . . it is amazing!
So this has helped to bring the marriage metaphor of Scripture to life for me. I always thought of it in terms of the Church being the Bride of Christ--but I never really saw that the same imagery applies on an individual level as well. And after reading this post, I love the book of Hosea even more than I previously did!
Doubt is an integral part of faith and without it, our faith wouldn't be as strong as it is. So your question (the second to last paragraph) could better convey your point saying, "how could we turn away?"/"abandon our faith?". Even with the mentality encouraged in your post, doubt still plays a key role in sharpening faith and isn't negative if it doesn't lead to unbelief.
ReplyDeleteAnthony, you're absolutely right. Doubt plays a huge role in our faith-- I believe it is a beautiful tool that the Lord uses to bring us back to Him so that we can end up knowing Him better than we did before. When we go through a time of dryness in our spiritual walks, we are driven to our knees, driven to the Word-- as though the Lord were purposefully distancing Himself from us that we might prove ourselves by searching Him out, seeking zealously for Him, that He might reveal Himself to us more fully than we knew Him before. Doubt can be merely a transition to the next step in our faith, if handled correctly.
Delete