A Better Life
7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:7-10)
There is a life that is so much better than the best life you can ever imagine. This life is the kind of life that only Jesus Christ can give you in the here and now, not later when you die. This life is available today through faith in Jesus. But what is this life? What kind of life is it anyway? When we speak of life we may refer to two possible realities, one is visible while the other is invisible. The visible life is of course our outward life, i.e. the things we say and do, accomplish, achieve, accumulate, etc. It may be positive or it may be negative. It’s easy to measure this life because everyone can see it, and, yes, we can also see it. We may be happy with it, especially if it looks successful on the outside, or we may feel miserable about it, especially if we see ourselves as failures. But the other life is invisible. it is our inner life. The Bible calls it our soul. It is this life that truly matters because it is our real life. Our outer life may pass away, but it is this life that will go on into eternity. We are spiritual beings. This life is hidden from view, sometimes even from ourselves, but it is never hidden from God. We live this life always before God. God knows this life because He sees the real us. So if this life is being destroyed, then we are losing this life even if we may be gaining our lives outside of it. Our success, no matter how the world might praise it, is nothing compared to the lost of this life, i.e. our souls. Jesus came to give us real life, the God kind of life that is connected to Him, empowered by Him, and lived for His glory. This is the only true life that matters. Everything else will pass away.
What kind of life are you focusing on? Is it simply your outer world, your life of achievements and accomplishments? Setting your heart on external things will only lead to self-destruction. Your soul will die! Satan knows this, and he will make sure that it happens by leading you away from the true source of life who is Jesus Himself. But Jesus came to give you a better kind of life, real life, the God-kind of life. You need to trust in Him and obey Him in order to experience this kind of life. Through Jesus you can experience a life that is much better than the best life you can ever imagine. Shalom! (PB)