July Synod Emphasis
This is Eternal Life
every circumstance aligns the way we want and we are comfortable, then obviously, satisfaction must be what follows. But Jesus teaches that our dissatisfaction is not circumstantial; it is relational. The restless person is not merely failing to achieve enough. They are seeking life where it cannot be found. Jesus is echoing a refrain found throughout the Bible. “He who loves - ey, nor he who loves wealth with his in- come; this also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 5:10 ESV). We know that nearly ubiq- uitous saying of Augustine, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our thee.” That restlessness and dissatisfac- tion is theological. We were created for communion with God, and separation from God is separation from life itself. When communion with God is absent, anything else we turn to become idols burdened with expectations of satisfac- tion that they cannot deliver. Careers, relationships, possessions,
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
By Nick Napier I
magine different sets of lives. One couple appears successful in every way: steady jobs, a home, cars, enough savings not to worry over little things, and the ability to take Instagram worthy vacations. However, inwardly they are
from having it. The reality is that they are alive, but not really living. Consider another couple. They have little, but they are content. Their expecta-
tions are simple and unpretentious. They don’t have padding in savings (a small creekside cabin. Though simple, it exceeds their expectations. Sitting beside the to it, and to each other. They think, “Now THIS is LIVING.” They are alive and living fully.
These lives mirror reality. There is a life that is vanity and striving after the wind.
There is a life fully lived (regardless of how much or little one may have): brim- ming with beauty, wonder, thanksgiving, and contentment. The question of this article is whether that second kind of life truly exists, or whether life is permanent restlessness and dissatisfaction.
the world’s ideas upside down. Eternal life is not merely endless existence. Life,
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recognition, and experiences are forced to carry the weight of ultimate mean- ing, and are crushed and collapse un- der it.
Jesus goes further and says that the object of eternal life is: “the only true God.” Eternal life does not consist in vague spirituality or generic religious feeling. There is one true God, and life consists in knowing Him. And yet, when we read Romans 1, we see that by nature, we do not seek Him rightly. Instead, men turn to created things and expect from them what only God can provide. The restless person who is obsessed with status or advancement is not religiously neutral; they are wor- shiping. They are assigning ultimate - ceiving ultimate satisfaction. But as Romans 1 also shows, God is not hidden. All throughout the Scrip- ture, He has revealed Himself, and has Jesus Christ: “and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The knowledge of God that constitutes eternal life comes only in Christ. He is not one possible path
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian
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