In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. – John 1:4.
Eternal Life
There are two more truths that should be mentioned. First, the life that God gives through Jesus Christ is not merely an earthly life or a life of such quality that it can be lost, but it is eternal life. It can never be lost. Therefore, the life that we receive from God in the moment of our belief in Jesus Christ is the same life that we will be living with God in eternity in what we would call unending millions and billions of years from now.
Again, you may be asking, what is eternal life? Simply put, it is life without end, the life of and in God. If it could be lost, as some persons think is the case, then it would not be eternal life. For instance, what would eternal life be if it could be lost at the end of one million years? It would not be eternal life. It would be one-million-years life. But if God said that it was going to last for one million years, then it could not be lost before the expiration of that period. If God said that He was going to give us one-thousand-years life, then the life could not be lost before the end of one thousand years. If He said that it was one hundred-years life, it could not be lost before one hundred years had expired. But we thank God that He has not given us merely one-hundred-, one-thousand-, or even one-million-years life. He has given us eternal life. It is truly eternal or everlasting, it is infinite; infinity has no end or expiration! Thus, the apostle John writes, “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11).
The second truth is that God has not only given us eternal life (which no one can take from us); He has also given us a life that is meant to be abundant even in our present circumstances. As stated previously, the Lord Jesus Christ once said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
It is unfortunate that many Christians, though they have eternal life, nevertheless do not seem to manifest a life abundantly. This was not meant to be. Instead of living a miserable life and always complaining, Christians are meant to live lives of such joy and exuberance that their lives will be a blessing to others and a glory to the Father through Christ Jesus.
There is a magnificent picture of this abundant life in the first verses of the beloved Twenty-third Psalm. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1–3). I believe that the reason this psalm has been so beloved by Christians throughout all the ages of church history is that it sets forth as something quite practical the abundant life that is ours because of God’s care for us. We know that we were once sheep that were lost. Even now we sometimes wander and stray away from Christ’s fold. But still we are His, and we know that the abundant life is ours whenever we will leave our wandering and lie down in the company of our Shepherd.
Did you know that a sheep will not eat or drink when it is lying down? Most people have never heard this. But it is a fact, and it gives special meaning to the phrase, “He makes me to lie down in green pastures.” If a sheep is lying down, even in the greenest of pastures and even with the most tender morsel of grass within an inch of its nose, the sheep will not eat the grass. Instead, if it is hungry, it will scramble to its feet, bend over, and then eat the morsel that was much easier to reach before. Thus, when the psalm tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ, our Shepherd, makes us lie down in green pastures, it means that He is able to satisfy us so completely that we cannot possibly yearn for anything more.
Oh, the joys of living out the abundant life of Christ! They are the joys of increasingly finding Him to be the Bread of Life that satisfies all our hunger and the Water of Life that quenches our deepest thirst.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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