And this is eternal life: that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. – John 17:3 Jesus had a last request. He knew what was facing Him in the next day, but His last prayer was not for Himself, but for you. For all of us. Jesus prayed for His followers. Jesus’ prayer is a wonderful window into God’s will for us– to have eternal life with God. Let me explain the gravity of that thought to you. St Augustine writes in his “Confessions” that life consists of fellowship with God who created us for Himself, so that our soul is restless unless it finds its rest in Him. In saying this, he implies that there is no real life UNTIL you find REST in God. When you do find God and know God; then not only do you obtain real life, you get to taste life everlasting. “Knowing” in this passage is not the same as knowledge. But to “know” God in this is finding “rest,” that is “trust” in Him. Often in the Bible, knowing means that we act upon our knowledge to do something. That “something” which we are always prompted to do in the Bible is to trust in God by having faith to believe in something we cannot tangibly see at this very moment but hope to experience in the future. When we do this, we begin to live our lives into eternity. This was Jesus’ prayer for us! Make Jesus’ prayer your prayer, that not only you, but the entire world will see His glory and come to know God through Jesus and Jesus’ act of loving sacrifice. This weekend, as the global church unites to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, let’s look for ways to KNOW God and Christ personally and then share that with everybody we know.
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