Daily Reflections on Jn. 17:3-5 (What Is Eternal Life?)

What is eternal life? Jesus answered that question very simply in His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. John 17 gives us a picture of what Jesus was praying the night before He went to the cross. Jesus' longest, most intense prayer, that brought sweat drops as of blood, was more than just about His suffering. As you read through these verses, you quickly discover that Jesus was praying as much about His disciples, and me and you as He was Himself.

Jesus' passion was about reconciliation of Himself with God, His disciples with God and one another, and all of mankind with God and one another. Jesus couldn't wait to get back to heaven to join His father. But the whole purpose of His coming to was to bring along as many as He could through their faith and belief in Him.

Jesus defines eternal life as knowing God as the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom God sent. Knowing God and knowing Jesus is eternal life. Now when Jesus says that, He doesn't mean just knowing about God. He said "knowing God." The implication of the original word in the New Testament is more about having a deep personal relationship than a general understanding or passing acquaintance. So what was Jesus talking about.

To understand what "knowing God" means, you simply have to look at how Jesus knew God. He describes their relationship as a oneness. Later in the passage He prays that His disciples be "one" as He and the Father are "one." Jesus' oneness with God was such that He drew His power from God, His essence from God, His essential sustenance from God. God was the point and direction of His life. Jesus said that all He had was God's. Everything about His life and being was God's.

That kind of oneness is eternal life. That's what it means to truly "know God." It's not about having a ticket to heaven. It's about a deep abiding relationship with God, where everything about my life and being is focused on Him. We're not talking about living in a monastery. Jesus did just the opposite. He lived among people. He interfaced with the world. In fact, he shied away from hanging out with the religious aristocracy of His day. He chose to spend time in prayer, the Holy Scriptures, at the local synagogues, with every day, common people, and with people who were far away from God by lifestyle. His life was almost exclusively about giving and serving others.

If eternal life is knowing God and knowing Jesus on a deep personal level that permeates every aspect of my life, what is eternal death? Death is a word that simply means separation. In this case separation from God and Jesus for eternity. Jesus wants us to experience eternal life, not eternal death. Life period, or the abundant life as Jesus talks about, is only found in God. God teams with life. Separated from Him there is no life. Not real life anyway. We may have existence, but we're not living.

As long as I'm not pursuing that deep personal relationship with God and Jesus, I'm actually pursuing death or at least the things that lead to death. I'd rather focus on life, eternal life. I want to know God and Jesus. I mean really know them. And it's in knowing them that my relationship with others are enhanced and deepened.

God, thanks for making it possible to really know you. Thanks for removing the barrier that existed between us because of my sin. I need your power in my life. I need your direction in my life, to focus my life, become the essence of my life. I don't want to hold anything back from you. Become my total sustenance. Allow me to experience the fullness of eternal life with you here and now.