The Outcome Of Your Faith

These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ . . . and that by believing you may have life in his name.   John 20:31, ESV

Life is one of the great themes of John’s Gospel. Since you’re reading this book you are, by definition, alive. But Jesus spoke to people about another kind of life he could give them, “life . . . to the full” (John 10:10, NIV). What did he mean by that?

Jesus was talking about the life Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden. They enjoyed a life free from the frustrations of age and the fear of death. They knew a wonderful partnership together, in which they pursued meaningful work in beautiful surroundings. But most of all, they enjoyed the presence and companionship of God, who came down and made himself visible to them so they could know him.

That was life to the full, and they lost it. They were driven out of the Garden, and afterward, Adam must have known he was living half a life. His children never experienced what their father and mother had known; all they knew was life in this fallen world—disease, danger, disasters, and death. Adam must have told them about the life he’d known, but it would have been difficult for them even to imagine.

In high school, I had two friends who were blind. One was blind from birth, the other became blind through an accident. Their experiences were very different. One knew what he was missing—you could describe things to him more easily. The other had no notion of color except what he produced in his own imagination.

Adam knew what life was like without the knowledge of evil. He knew what it was like to walk with God. And he knew he was living half a life. But we’ve only ever known this life. We find it difficult to imagine what it would be like to be free from evil and to enjoy the visible presence of God.

Christ came so you could enter into a life beyond imagination. God has anointed him for the task of taking all who will believe into this life. Have you come to a verdict? Jesus is the Christ, and “by believing you may have life in his name.”

For further reading, see John 10