Eternal Life is Knowing the Real God

Michel Leconte

Evangile et Liberté, Dimanche 1er Juin 2014

Translation Louise Thunin

« And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. » John 17 : 3

            Eternal life is not a form of existence that goes on forever after death. It’s not a reward that is promised, either, if we have been « good Christians ». As Marion Miller Colard wrote in her meditation on the Gospel of John (17 : 1-11), we humans are creatures of « planned obsolescence ».

After a certain age, our body reminds us of this every day. We have to submit to it, even if our egos rebel. And even if we can’t give in to it, we’ll die anyway. Our life is not meant to last. There is no use denying it by taking refuge in the belief in an after-world, beyond our present existence. So then, what is eternal life ?

Eternal life, says Jesus, is knowing, that is having a strong and intense relationship with the true God and not with an idol born from our fears and our need for security who comes constantly to mind : an all-powerful God who reassures us and whom we fear but who does not love and whom, actually, we do not love. The real God, Jesus teaches, is one who loves truly. His love is creative. He gives life, heals, puts us back on our feet and makes us dynamic. Being loved by him gives us the courage to be, joy in having been born, and the strength to love in turn, since we are desired and loved by him, the Source of sources.

Eternal life is today. « We know that we have passed out of life into death, because we love the brethren. He who does not love remains in death. » (I John 3 :14). «(…) love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. (I John 4 : 7) in an « eternal now » (P. Tillich).

Pour faire un don, suivez ce lien