Encouraging Word
We learn in Genesis that God is the Creator and the Source of life. Life is a gift from God and is to be celebrated. How can we celebrate life? To celebrate means to give special attention to and to recognize and rejoice as significant. Physical life is a gift and is sacred and should be treated as such. Spiritual life is also available. There is new life, abundant life, and eternal life.
To experience new life, one must be “born again.” In John 3:3, Jesus tells Nicodemus that a new birth is necessary to enter the kingdom of God. Just like physical birth is necessary for natural life, spiritual birth is necessary for new life (2 Corinthians 5:17). A new life in Christ leads to an abundant life.
In John 10:10, Jesus said that He came to give us an abundant life. Abundant means plentiful, full, and complete. Without Jesus in our life, we are incomplete. Something is missing. There is a “hole in the soul,” or a void that only Christ can fill and satisfy. I believe it was St. Augustine who said, “Man’s soul does not rest until he makes peace with God.”
Spiritual life involves new life in Christ (new birth), an abundant life (full, complete), and eternal life. Eternal means everlasting and existing forever. John 3:16 says that faith in Christ leads to everlasting life. In John 11:35, Jesus says He is the resurrection and the life and whoever believes in Him lives after physical death. Romans 6:23 says that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So, let’s celebrate the physical life that has been given to us and the spiritual life that is available to us through Jesus Christ!
-Tony Cooper
Director Emeritus of Jimmie Hale Mission
