Don't give the mechanical knee-jerk answer you often give in Sunday School. If you can rightly define eternal life you get a prize. Honest.
Only that don't ask SIBFK-AAFC officers for the prize because it's not for us to give. Don't get us wrong but we are not giving a contest. What we are telling you is that you can actually win a prize if you rightly define eternal life with your life.
Let's define eternal life. Jesus defined it Himself in John 17:3, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
Receiving the gift of eternal life is not the end of "accepting" Jesus Christ. It's only the beginning of it. We often mistake accepting Jesus Christ as just a passport to have. Yes, He is the passport to heaven but He is more than that.
Eternal life is to know Him.
To know Him is to know all facets of His Person as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. Well, those combination of words may seem frightfully "religious" or would strike you as "so spiritual." And yes, to know God is spiritual because God is Spirit and He cares so much about your spirituality. Being spiritual does not mean you will seclude yourself from the physical world. What God wants is for your soul, your spirit is to have fellowship with Him.
Fellowship with God is not just church worship service. Fellowship is spending time with Him alone in quietness, reading His word, talking to Him and occupying our minds of Him everyday. I know you've heard that so many times from your pastors, youth leaders and Sunday school teachers. You probably don't want to continue reading because you already heard this. But wait there's more!
I know very much that many of you are kinda "tired" of hearing the "spend time with God in prayer and devotions" line. I think I know why. It's because you don't do it. You don't do regular daily devotions. Your pastor would not be repeating that over and over if you're actually doing it. Just like your parents, they will not tell you repeatedly to wash the dinner dishes if you're already washing the dishes.
Now that you have a fair idea of eternal life, it's time to get the prize. Actually, you already have the prize which is the gift of eternal life. The only problem is that you are not using the gift you received. Like some of the Christmas gifts you probably received, you think them so beautiful so you end up hiding them in your cabinet. For preservation and long life.
But the gift we received does not work and will not work like that. The Apostle Paul tells us to continue to work out our salvation (Phil. 2:12) and live up to what we have already attained--that is, eternal life. (Phil 3:16)If you're given an iPhone, you would not immediately know how to operate all its functions. You have to spend time reading the manual to figure everything out and then it will work for you. Same way with God. You would knot know and understand how He will work in your life if you don't read the Bible and talk to him on a regular basis.
"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose."
Philippians 2:12-13
Guys, make your salvation work for you. Don't put it away. Use it!
