Everlasting Life
It seems to me that the older we get the more we are inclined to have this unwritten list of things we check off in life. Have you noticed that? Subconsciously we take a mental assessment of our lives. Okay, I graduated from high school, I managed to obtain a college degree, I’ve been married a number of years and have wonderful children and grandchildren, I’ve got a fairly successful job and I live in a nice house in an upscale neighborhood. My life is complete. 
Without knowing it, we go through life and check off these events until one day we reach a point where we cry out to God and we ask, “Why is my life so predictable? Why is it that I get bored so easily? Why do I find myself getting so irritated with other people?” It seems as if each day of my life is merely a repeat of yesterday.
If you were to ask some of my friends who serve on the mission field, “Tell me what life is like?” They would not reply, “Well, I’ve accomplished this and that and my life is rather dull and boring.” Ask the same question to any of my friends who are serving the Lord daily in their own unique ways and they too would not tell you that their life is predictable. Instead, these people would proclaim, “My life is so exciting, so challenging and so abundantly full that I just cannot wait to see what God does next in my life!”
After spending time with people like that I have to wonder why all Christians are not asking God, “Send me somewhere to do something exciting and challenging for the Kingdom of God.” Do you know why more Christians are not living the abundant life that God intended for them? It is because we are surrounded by so many things that invariably determine how we feel about ourselves. We read the newspaper and story after story fills our minds with negative thoughts about the world and our lives. Turn on the television for just a few seconds and the news will only add to us feeling defeated.
Everywhere we turn it seems that we are reminded that we need to lose weight, we don’t have the full head of hair that we used to, the clothes we wear are not in style with the latest fashions and, frankly, we just don’t measure up to everyone else. With this mindset it is no wonder we do absolutely nothing for God! We waste so much energy trying to keep up with the world when instead, we should cling to the fact that God loves us and accepts us because we are children of the living God.
Do you realize just how much God loves you? Refresh your memory with John 3:16 (Amplified):
“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.”
For most of us that simply means when we die we are going to heaven. While that is true, if you have accepted Christ as your Savior, that is not the full meaning of “everlasting life.” The more abundant life begins the moment we accept Jesus into our hearts. That is when we discover that God thinks we are wonderful and He dearly loves us because of who we are in Christ.
As soon as we honestly accept this reality, we suddenly have tremendous spiritual energy and we stop chasing the false dreams of this world. We are then equipped to come before the Lord and say, “Here I am, send me.” That is when your life becomes an amazing journey, full of wonderful discoveries and everlasting blessings from Jesus.
