The Life

John 14:6)  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."

The last two days we have looked in greater detail at Jesus being the way and the truth.  Now we'll dig in and see what we learn about Him being the life.

True life comes from having a freedom from the grasp of sin.  Sin entangles us.  I love what Paul tells the Romans about the flesh being weak.  Read the verse below.

Romans 7:18)  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

Humans are born with a sin nature.  There is nothing good in us from day one.  How can we live a full and abundant life free from the grasp of sin?  We can't aside from having faith in Jesus Christ and letting Him change us from the inside out.  There is more to the Christian life than just being sure we stay out of hell.  The reason Jesus mouthed the words in John 14:6 to the Twelve was more than instructions on how they could stay out of hell.  He wanted them to know how they could live abundantly on this earth, during this life.

John 10:10)  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Satan is the thief.  He wants us to be in bondage to the past and the future.  He wants our sin to control us.  He desires to seek and destroy life.  I have heard a common argument against following Jesus as being Jesus wants to take all the fun away from life.  I have heard people say they can't be a Christian because there would be no more of the fun stuff in life.  In my own life the "fun stuff" was the stuff my flesh wanted.  It is what I desired for selfish ambition.  When one lives a life sold out to Jesus Christ there is tremendous freedom.  I know longer feel like I have to take part in things or want things because that is what normal people want.  I want different things genuinely.  Granted until we leave this earth our fleshly desires will scream and claw their way to the top.  It's a never ending battle, but the battle gets easier in certain ways as we mature in Christ.

With God I am able to live the live He designed and desires for me.  In sharing the Good news I am able to bring hope to lost souls.  Life is more than what we experience on earth so Jesus meant we can have an abundant life (John 10:10) here and now AND for eternity.  Of course earthly abundant life and heavenly abundant life are two very different things, but regardless, they both will be fulfilling.

My dictionary came in handy again for today's study.  A few definitions of life are a spiritual existence transcending physical death, a way or manner for living with animation, and an opportunity for continued viability.  Those are fantastic ways to look at life and I can really see where Jesus would be necessary in all of these.  I want this life, a life that transcends physical death.  I want an animated life and to me that has abundant life written all over it.  I also would love continued viability even when earthly life beats me down.  Even in those times a viable life is possible.  It does not feel that way often, but it is. 

The more I studied John 14:6 the more I acquired a wider range of understanding.  I used to think the verse just told us how to get to heaven.  I mentioned this before and believe it does still say this, but it says so much more as we've learned over the past few days. 

God is the author and giver of ALL life.  He creates, produces, and maintains all life.  Life in Christ is the opposite of the Law.  The Law took life with condemnation and in Christ we have abundant life and freedom.  No man can come to the Father without first putting their faith in Jesus Christ.  We have to go through Jesus Christ first.  There has to be a Mediator between God and human.  Jesus introduces and presents me to the Holy Father.  I can only find acceptance in God's eye because Jesus first cleans me up.  I have this vision of Jesus standing beside my mom presenting her to the Heavenly Father.  He looks to God and says, "this is Dinah Ann Kruse...boy she is quite a lady and she's ready for the good life!" 

I challenge you to look at John 14:6 a little differently.  I'm going to make an effort to look at the verse not only for instructions on how to get to heaven, but on how I can live a free and abundant life NOW.