Eternal Life: God's Gift to You

"Believing the right things about Jesus isn't enough. You're not adopted as God's child until you confess and turn away from your wrongdoing and receive the freely offered gift of forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus purchased with his death on the cross. Until you do that, you'll always be on the outside looking in." - Lee Strobel

There was a story in the news recently about a woman in San Jose, California who found something special in a Domino's Pizza box. No, it wasn't some new, specialty pizza, or a free, extra order of toppings. Imagine her surprise when she opened her pizza box and saw $5,000 cash! Now, that's some kind of pizza, right??!!

Naturally, the honest woman returned the money and was in turn rewarded "pizza for life" by Domino's Pizza for her good deed. I guess you could call it a gift that will definitely keep on giving long after the newsworthiness of this incident has faded.

The Bible tells us of a gift that we can receive, too. And though it isn't free pizza for life, it is something much more substantial than any type of reward we could ever receive in our lives. This gift doesn't come from any corporation, or other earthly entity. You might already be familiar with this reward, or gift. It is known as "eternal life."

How does one lay hold of this reward? Scripture refers to eternal life as a gift of God. The only way to receive it is through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23). This very special gift comes only to believers in Jesus Christ; who is called "the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). The beautiful thing about eternal life is that continues perpetually. That's right. Forever.

Is there a waiting period, or processing time to receive it? No. Believers can possess it the moment they put their faith in Christ (John 3:36). Some may be under the impression that eternal life is something that starts after death. Not true! We may take hold of it right now in our present state. Eternal life is not centered around whatever our future may be, but on where we currently stand in Jesus Christ.

Now, how does one know that they have eternal life? There are a few things that need to happen. Don't worry, it won't cost you anything but some honesty and commitment. Now, the first thing you need to do is confess your sin before God. If you can't get past this first step,  you cannot move forward.

Then (this is extremely crucial), you must accept that God provided a Savior who died in your place for your (our) sins (Romans 10:9-10; Romans 10:13; Acts 16:31). Why? None of us, in our natural  state of sin could ever be good, or acceptable to God on our own merits no matter what we did or say (Romans 3:23).

But thankfully, you don't have to wait for a surprise in a pizza box to receive the gift of eternal life from God. We all have been invited to know Christ and take advantage of his special offer of eternal life. (Revelation 22:17). And, it's within your grasp right now (1 John 5:11-12)!

Scripture: Job 19:25-27; Ecclesiastes 3:14; John 1:1; Hebrews 10:12-14; John 10:27-28

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for sending Your only begotten Son to save me from sin, so that I, by my confession of sin and acceptance of You, and by faith, may receive eternal life. Amen

God bless you,

Bree