An Invitation To Life.4

"Herein lies the way to eternal life: 

know the only true God and Jesus Christ, 

the one sent to you by God. 

Take my words to heart." 

--Jesus

Ayden (7 year old grandson): "I keep asking my dad to show me how to use a pocketknife."

Me (grandpa): "Maybe he doesn't think you're quite ready."

Ayden: "But he promised he'd show me this spring."

Me: "Maybe he knows you need to be a little more patient."

Ayden: (stomping foot)"I am patient!"

Me: "Maybe. But being patient doesn't mean quarreling in your head about whether you think your dad is wrong about the word 'patient'.  Its being patient in your heart."

Ayden: "What does that mean?"

Me: "It means you trust your dad to love and care for you.  When your heart knows that, you'll always trust him to do what's best for you. Then waiting isn't such a hard thing, because you love your dad more than the thing you wanted your dad to do for you."

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The Knowing Of the Father

What if-

• eternal life isn't just Pearly Gates and Golden Streets?
• Real Bliss is Knowing God the Father, just like Jesus the Son does?
• the only way to get that kind of knowledge is to be like Jesus: a perfect child to His Father?
• the only way to be like Jesus is to do like Jesus?
• in the doing comes the learning, the perfecting, the uniting of our hearts together as we see His gentle hand helping, teaching, directing us to a better way?
• our actions demonstrate that we think like Him, see like Him, move like Him, love like Him?
• we could prove to the world the Truth of Him because:
• we love one another (believers and unbelievers alike)
• are just & fair in all our dealings
• our goods the best, their weight the surest, prices most reasonable, word most certain
• we love not riches nor envy those who have them
• selfishness does not rule in our homes or our hearts
• we know that if we can't trust Him in this world neither will we in the next
• we are good, happy, unselfish, sharing, free of care, ready to die, but so willing to live, hopeful, helpful, careless to possess, careful to avoid being possessed by worthless things.

What if the whole secret of progress in knowing and loving the Father is in the doing of the thing we know?

What if that IS Eternal Life?

adapted from Self-Denial, by George MacDonald