A Full Life for Eternal Life
You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. — Psalms 16:11
The testimony is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. — 1 John 5:11
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: Eternal life is the supreme gift Christ offers the repentant sinner through His sacrifice on the cross. It is not only a future hope: as we grow in faith and in knowledge of the Word, we live in Christ today, certain that we will be with Him forever. That conviction brings fullness of life, though it does not spare us from falls or wilderness seasons. In those times, God reminds us that we are not alone and lifts us up by His grace. The path is narrow and requires perseverance; therefore, let us keep ourselves in the love of God and look to the cross as we await His mercy unto eternal life.
When I began my life in Christ, one of the things I struggled most to understand was eternal life. Anyone who does not understand the promise of eternal life gets only halfway toward understanding the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Eternal life for the repentant sinner is the promise of all promises. It is the supreme gift, the ultimate fruit of the sacrifice made on the cross. As faith and knowledge of the Word of God grow, the Lord reveals the meaning of a life with Christ, here and now and in eternity. With Christ today, with Him tomorrow; and as His love and mercies chisel the redeemed heart, the conviction that we will spend eternity in His presence becomes clearer and more certain. He Himself promised it: “And this is the promise He Himself made to us: eternal life.” (1 Jn 2:25).
Only in Christ is there eternal life (1 Jn 5:11), and the conviction of eternal life brings fullness of life. A full life in Christ is not free from falls, but it comes with the certainty that He lifts us up when we fall. A great Latin American thinker of the nineteenth century, renowned throughout the world, said: “We need to get (ourselves) up, not turn our falls into poetry.” We tend to turn our falls into poetry or, in the best (or worst) of cases, blame the devil for our iniquities, granting him a power he never had. A word of warning: Christ’s deserts are also part of the inheritance He has left us so that we may understand the mysteries of His Glory. The deserts are the settings where God reveals Himself to us, reminding us of His greatness and assuring us that we will not cross them alone.
To experience the fullness of life in Christ, we must, from time to time, pass through the Jordan of His sufferings and swim with all our might to the other shore, where grace extends its hand and His Word ceases to be a promise of eternal life and becomes your reality. Eternal life must become real in the Christian mind and heart, convinced that the way will not be easy because it is narrow, as the Scriptures say, but that it brings blessing and fullness of life.
David sang: “You will fill me with joy in your presence, and with eternal delight at your right hand.” (Ps 16:11). Is not the Son at the right hand of the Father? What eternal delight is David singing about? Who is that fountain of eternal life at the Father’s right hand? Is there not fullness of joy in His presence? There is no doubt: fullness in Christ is fullness of life—a life that points toward eternity.
Jude, the Lord’s brother, urges us: “keep yourselves in the love of God, eagerly awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life” (Jude 21). My prayer is that we never stop looking to the cross, so that eternity becomes real to us, not as an illusion or mirage, but as the reason for the hope rooted in the fullness of life we have in Him who fills all in all.
God bless you!