Jesus Is Better Than Eternal Life
Sometimes, when I tell people in Kentucky that I’m from the Bible Belt of South Alabama, I get the impression that they think I’m describing a place much like Kentucky. Undoubtedly, there are areas of Kentucky that resemble where I’m from in terms of the influence of cultural Christianity, but I’ve spent my twenty years here in and around Kentucky’s two largest cities, Lexington and Louisville. If Lexington and Louisville are Bible Belt cities, South Alabama must be the exact notch the prong slides into.
Where I’m from, you don’t ask if someone goes to church, but where. Christianity pervades the culture visibly in that there’s literally a church—usually Baptist or Methodist—on every corner and audibly in that the people speak in biblical references often without even knowing from where their words derive. Everyone I knew claimed to be a Christian, including me before I actually became one. However, the gospel didn’t always make much difference in our personal lives. Scriptural truth made its way onto grocery store signs and living room cross-stitch patterns much easier than into the hearts of people. Excitement about what was happening at First Baptist paled in comparison to elation over the proceedings on Saturdays at Bryant-Denny and Jordan-Hare.
Nevertheless, I grew up knowing the gospel. I didn’t go to one VBS every summer; I went to mine, my aunt’s, and my best friend’s. I memorized John 3:16 long before I believed it. I knew that, if I wanted to go to heaven when I died, Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life.
That message, however, never connected with me. Like most teenagers, I didn’t think much about death. Believing the myth of my own invincibility, the day of my reckoning seemed a long way off. When preachers would mention judgment and hell and offer Christ as the means of escape, I mastered the art of kicking that can further down the road. I figured I would deal with that when I got a little closer to it. By my calculations, I still had plenty of time to do it my way before eventually turning it over to the Lord at some later date.
Of course, God had other plans for me. Through a series of providential catastrophes of my own making, I ended up turning to Christ much earlier than I thought I would. God mercifully made me miserable, and in response, I desperately declared my need of him. Jesus saved me even though I didn’t deserve it. The gospel message I had heard my whole life became my own.
But shortly after becoming a Christ-follower, I realized that something had been missing in all the gospel presentations I had heard growing up. Certainly, I now possessed assurance of eternal life, but I also experienced something I did not expect—Jesus was better in this life, too. All the talk about “heaven when you die”—glorious true promises, I should add—ignored the one thing my heart desired most—joy in this life. I was shocked to discover that Jesus was simply better than the life I had been pursuing on my own. His freedom was true freedom. His joy lasted past Friday night. His love for me pervaded every facet of my existence. Because of him, I saw myself rightly for the first time. Because of him, I was finally able to love other people. It was as if I had stumbled upon the secret map to discovering everything my heart had been searching for. The key wasn’t a circumstance or an experience; it was knowing Jesus.
I don’t want to imply here that I never struggled after that. Of course, I’ve struggled. My whole life has been struggle. But struggling in Jesus looks nothing like struggling without him. Even my struggles now somehow end in life and joy.
Why do we talk about the quantity of life that Jesus offers more than the quality? Yes, because of Jesus’s resurrection, those who trust in him and submit to his Lordship, will live forever in his kingdom. However, Jesus also said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). D. A. Carson comments on this passage, “It means that the life Jesus’ true disciples enjoy is not to be construed as more time to fill (merely ‘everlasting life’), but life at its scarcely imagined best, life to be lived.”
This world conspires to make us believe that we can find life right here in this world, without God. Jesus tells us we can’t. Who are you going to trust on this question? Jesus offers eternal life, but he also offers so much more. In him, you’ll find the only life worthy of the name.
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