Devotional Thoughts: Eternal Life

This is the first verse I learned as a child. I thought that merely acknowledging God was enough. Ive learned since that our English language doesn’t do this verse justice. The verb “believe” in Greek means far more than acknowledgment here. This kind of belief is the kind that affects your lifestyle. It requires action. Lots of ranting all over our culture about opinions and beliefs but how many of us are actually living out those beliefs?

Here in John 3:16 Jesus invites us to believe, to believe in such a way that we belong to God and this means we commit to walk in Gods ways and to obey His commands. If I believe something I act on it. It changes me. If I truly believe others see this in my choices and lifestyle. Believing is giving our lives to God, surrendering our way. Are you a believer? If you’ve only been an acknowledger like I was you can move right into belief by praying a prayer like this::

Sorry – confess sins and ask God for forgiveness

Thank You – Thanks for the gift Jesus, Your son gave by sacrificing himself in my place to pay for my sins. I accept this gift.

Please – Please take my life and guide my life. I give it to you.

And so the journey into abundant and eternal life begins! It begins the moment I cross over into the unknown and say sorry, thank you and please to God. Then I can understand what it means to believe and trust God. That’s my first little sprout of faith that can grow into a towering tree that produces fruit or it can dry up and die. We all need to feed and water our faith. And there’s nothing more glorious than a beautiful fruit to share with someone!

God loves us so much, each and every one! The ultimate sacrifice has been given. Let’s not perish. Let’s grab a hold of eternal life.