…we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. – 1 John1:2
“As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him.” – Psa. 103:15-17
Everything in our life is temporary and passing. Our life, our jobs, our relationships, our joys, our sorrows and afflictions, our desires, all our possessions that eventually rust or break – it’s all temporary. We live in a world of constant needs with only temporary solutions. We are never satisfied for long. We are never fulfilled. We always hunger for more – more wealth, more power, more knowledge, more possessions, more meaning. We are constantly deluded thinking if only we can get to the next level, the next meal, the next possession, the next relationship we will be happy and be finally complete, but completion always eludes us, because all we ever have to fill ourselves with is well…temporary.
All these things above are good things and intended to bring us much joy and pleasure in life but they were never intended to be our life source. We have one life source, God the Father who we draw our life from through our relationship with Christ Jesus.
Our relationship to God the Father was broken when we foolishly sought to become our own life source, and cut our connection to Him through seeking elsewhere to have our needs met. We thought independence would bring us life, not realizing dependence on Him was our life. We thought it would bring us freedom, not realizing it was our connection to Him which freed us. Because of our broken connection to our eternal life source, God the Father, we became wanderers and leachlings, attaching our hearts to anything that might sustain it a moment longer and give us temporary joy, purpose, comfort and meaning, a small dose of what is abundantly provided in Him.
By connecting our lives to Jesus, as a branch is connected to a vine, we once again have access to eternal life in God the Father. We can draw on him as our life source and survive even though our world perishes around us. John 15:1-8 For as the Father has life in himself , so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself . John 5:26 All that the Father gives me will come to me , and whoever comes to me I will never cast out . John 6:37 I give them eternal life , and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. John 10:28 And this is eternal life , that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life , and I will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:40 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. John 6:47
Before we approach the next section of 1 John Chapter 1, and continue with our study, take time to examine, what is your source of life? What do you depend on for life, identity, meaning, fulfillment, definition and purpose? What is it that if you lost it, you would risk losing your life with it? Your life would be ruined. Is it your job? Your marriage? Your children? Friends? Reputation? Health? Talent? Position? Finances? Is it several of the above in varying degrees? If it is not the eternal life of Christ that we are drawing our life from and sustaining our life through, then when the temporary position or possession is lost, our life will be lost with it.
“The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” – 1 John 1:17
I ask myself these same questions and I can feel the chains and tugs on my heart being pulled downward by this world’s desires like gravity. You need this job. You will not survive without it if you lose it. You need this relationship; no joy will be left in the world for you if you lose this relationship. Your life will be over. You need this comfort. You will die from the pain if you do not dull it right now. You have too much invested into this and hanging on this to let go of this right now… I constantly have to remind myself, no this is a temporary gift that I am to enjoy and thank God for his provision in it but it’s just for today. It may be gone tomorrow or I may be gone tomorrow. I can’t hang my life on it and it can’t hang it’s life on me. My life isn’t in it, and their life isn’t in me, it is in Him. He provides for all and will continue to provide even when this particular source of life is dried up and gone.
Every temporary death I am learning, is an opportunity for me to reach out and cling to eternal life a little tighter. Or to reach out and cling to another temporary substitute that can never hold or sustain me for very long. It’s just a quick fix, a temporary solution for an eternal sized problem. It’s Jesus, God’s Living Word, that I need to grasp and cling to tighter until I am clinging to him alone. God calls us to enjoy the temporary, enjoy your family, enjoy your children, enjoy your position your career, but don’t cling and hang your life on them. Although they seem as if they are more real, more concrete and secure – they aren’t more secure then He Himself is. They are temporary. He alone is eternal. They are fragile gifts, that will wear out, grow old, grow rusty, become outdated and insufficient, fail, leave and let you down. They will not hold or protect for very long. They can’t, they weren’t designed to. God alone is our eternal security, our faithful provider, our refuge & shelter, our rock and ever present help in our time of trouble. He alone is our eternal fix.
