“History has brought us to the point where the Christian message is thought to be essentially concerned only with how to deal with sin; with wrong-doing or wrong-being and its effects. Life, our actual existence, is not included in what is now presented as the heart of the Christian message” - The Divine Conspiracy.
Thus Dallas Willard describes the Gospels we have today as “gospels of sin management.” Sin is the bottom line, and we have the cure. Typically it is a system of knowledge or performance, or a mixture of both. But we don’t need more facts, and we certainly don’t need more things to do. WE NEED LIFE! ETERNAL LIFE!
But when we think of eternal life – we tend to think of it in terms of existence that never comes to and end. And the existence it seems to imply, a sort of religious experience in the sky, leaves us wondering if we would want it to go on forever. Eternal life is not primarily duration but quality of life, “life to the limit.” It cannot be taken from us so it does go on and on. But the real focus is on the life itself.
Jesus is quite clear that when He speaks of eternal life, what He means is life that is incredible and can never be diminished or stolen from you. He says, “I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” Literally “to the full or max” John 10:10. Not, “I have come to threaten you into line,” or “I have come to exhaust you with a long list of demands.” Not even, “I have come primarily to forgive you.” But simply: “MY purpose is to bring you life in all its fullness.”
The apostles missed that at first. They thought it was going to be all about learning things and following new guidelines to govern their lives. But they soon learned that he was not like the religion leaders of their day with rules and regulations to produce behavior modification. He was about transformation from within that enabled each person to, in the terms of the Army commercial, “Be All That You Can Be.” They discovered real living and fulfillment through their relationship with Him.
The Apostle John, after getting to know Christ, said about Him, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” What did he mean by that? How could life be found in someone else? According to today’s thinking, we have to each discover ‘Life According to Me,’ and it doesn’t include anyone else telling me what I need to do. But he says he found in his relationship with Christ not only what real life was all about, but also it enlightened him as to what men were made to be. Not regulated but related, not informed but infused with purpose and design that cries out for fulfillment. Destined by our desires to discover that, for which, we were made. To begin experiencing that life now and enjoy it forever in eternity, is God’s plan.
We are created as Eternal Beings and nothing short of Eternal Life will satisfy the desires of our heart.
