Morning Devotional

November 22, 2004
"The Promise of Eternal Life"

by Don Emmitte

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Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst. But you haven't believed in me even though you have seen me. However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do what I want. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day. For it is my Father's will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life--that I should raise them at the last day." (John 6:35-40 NLT).

Yesterday we saw God’s promise of salvation. Today we see God’s promise of eternal life. The dictionary defines eternal life as “Time without beginning or end; infinite time”. The Bible says that there will actually come a point where there is no more time. Our finite minds cannot begin to fully understand infinity, but in structure that’s basically what eternity is. Eternity might be summarized for the Christian as the individual, never ending experience of knowing and loving God, through the power of Jesus Christ.

I had an interesting discussion with one of my co-workers the other day. He has always wondered what we will do in eternity. I mean, after a few thousand years, won’t we get bored? I shared with him something I had read in a book recently that made sense. We are finite. We have a limited capacity to think or to imagine. When we get to Heaven, our lives will be infinite. We are eternal beings, and therefore, our lives will never end, but we will still have finite minds. We will have the full capacity to see His glory and to completely learn about Him, but we still won’t have all of God figured out. Since He is infinite, we will spend an eternity learning and growing in the knowledge and love of our God and Savior. Eternity for the Christian begins at the point of salvation.

If you are a believer, your hope is in Jesus Christ and His eternity. When this world doesn’t produce for you all you hoped it would, you can find comfort in your eternity. The best is yet to come. Most of us will spend 70 or 80 years on this earth, with all of its heartaches and disappointments. We will spend infinity with God, where there is no more dying, no pain, no suffering, and no crying, only love, joy, peace, and happiness without end.

Someone once said that salvation would be worth it if there were no promise of “eternal life”. I think that’s true. I certainly wouldn’t want to face tomorrow without my relationship to Jesus. Praise God, however, that it doesn’t end here! Our eternity will include infinity to enjoy your Presence!