Verily, verily. Truly, truly. I tell you for certain. I tell you the truth. (These are the various ways this verse opening “Omein, omein” is translated.)
A really big clue that what Jesus was about to say is of incredible importance. Something to pay attention to. Something to take action on.
So, what DID He say????
He said that the person who not only heard His words but listened to them AND believed in God-some translations say “believe God”-would have eternal life. I show that distinction because it’s important. Scripture tells us the demons believe IN God. Those who will have eternal life must actually believe God – what He says, what He does, who He is, everything.
Now, this “believe” is translated from the Hebrew “emunah” which is more than just a simple belief. It’s not at all a superficial thing. Chabad.org says that emunah is an innate conviction, a perception of truth that transcends reason, but is not based on reason. Reason can never attain the certainty of emunah. When a person has a profound emunah in truth, he feels this truth to be part and parcel of his own essence and being.
That’s much bigger than what we might breezily read as “believe.” This is the kind of belief that fosters trust and causes us to cling to and rely on God. We not only recognize that what He says is true, we recognize Him AS Truth.
Because we hold that belief, that emunah, when we hear Jesus’ words, we don’t just listen, we take heed, we pay attention, we take action. We make the changes necessary to align ourselves with Him. Through that taken action, we are lifted from the lineup for judgment and condemnation of God—we have moved out of death and into life.
See, eternal life doesn’t begin when earthly life ends. It is right here, right now, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. Believer, when you chose to receive the sacrifice of Jesus for yourself, you stepped out of the line for judgment and death into life. True life. Real living, now and forever.
What does eternal life look like here on earth? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. It looks like loving God and loving others. Not from a sense of obligation but from a place of deep, abiding love. Freedom. It looks like the ultimate freedom to be who you are, created in God’s image with a unique purpose to serve God and mankind.
Let’s step into this eternal life today! If you’ve never made that decision to become a follower of Jesus, today’s a fabulous day to do so. If you’re unsure how to do that, send me an email. We’ll talk.
If you’re a follower of Jesus but not walking in your eternal life, go ahead and email me about that, too. I’d love to talk further with you.
It’s time. You’re worth it.
God says so.
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Some extra thoughts…
That kind of faith that emunah translates to is not what we think about with, you know, we believe, all kinds of things. It’s kind of like love. We hear love and we think about, I love hamburgers, I love my spouse. Two different things, but we’re using the same word. When we think about believe it’s like, I can say that I believe the sky is blue. I believe that my computer is going to keep working. I believe that this chair will hold me up before I sit in it. I believe, but all those things are, in my mind, they’re basically superficial, you can see the fulfillment of your belief.
When we’re talking this emunah “believe,” we’re talking about belief that we don’t see other than in our heart, in our mind’s eye that we don’t see within the next little bit see the result of it. If I believe that this chair will hold me up and I sit down in this chair, then I can see that my belief is fulfilled. If I believe that God is God and there is no other. I don’t really see that with my human eyes, my spiritual eyes see it.
We have to have this emunah faith in order to have the salvation so freely offered by God, faith that he is, faith that He is a rewarder of those who follow him, faith that he rescues us, belief that everything he says is, even if we don’t see it. Faith and truth that become a part of us.
You know how we say, Oh, well I’m just always, I’m just gruff that way, or I’m just blunt in how I talk. You’re claiming that that’s an essence of you. What if our belief was so strong that that became an essence of us, too? Are you there yet? I’m working on it. I’ll say that I’m working on it. What a challenge to work on, having this kind of belief, to live in this place where we utterly trust God. You can do this. I know you can. I believe in you. I believe in you, and better than that, God Almighty believes in you. He is for you. He cheers you on.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
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