Live to Honor God

Now This is Eternal Life

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." John 17:3

Recently, I came across this verse as I was reading the Bible and it stopped me in my tracks. I mean, it really floored me. Let's look at the verse in context. I'd like to show you a couple of things. In these verses Jesus is praying about himself and what he came to earth to do. In the process he helps us understand a little about honoring God.

John 17:1-4 "After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 'Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do."

He states the time is come for him to become the sacrifice that will pay the debt for all people. Through his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus is glorified and recognized for who he really is—the Savior of the world, the Messiah. Also, through Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection God, the Father is glorified as the Creator God who loved his creation so much that he was willing to pay the ultimate price to redeem him since people are unable to redeem themselves. Through Jesus' willingness to follow through with the suffering required by God's plan of salvation God is honored in the ultimate way. It is not his suffering that honors God—God is not cruel to take pleasure in the pain of man. But, rather, it is his obedience and humility that brings honor to the Lord of Life.

Obedience and humility to God and his will in our lives brings honor and glory to our Lord.

Jesus continues "for you granted him (Jesus) authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him." Jesus has authority over all people to grant eternal life to those who follow him and put their trust in him.

Then, we come to verse 3—"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." When you look at the original Greek word that is translated "know" in this verse you understand that Jesus is saying more than having a basic knowledge of God. Let's look at the Amplified Bible wording for this verse:

"And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent."

In this version we see the word conveys a more encompassing "knowledge" of the only true and real God and Jesus the Messiah.

You see, to have eternal life is to have an intimate relationship with him. Sometimes we try to make salvation and living a Christian life into a group of techniques or formulas. Formulas, techniques, rules, and legalism was what they had under the old covenant. The new covenant, sealed with the blood of Jesus is about having a relationship with God.

"Now this is eternal life: that they may know you…" He didn't say know about you. God desires to have an intimate relationship with each of us. This is awesome because the road to eternal life through rules and formulas is hard and rocky. But, Jesus has made the "rough places plain." Jesus glorified God by paving the way for us to have an intimate knowledge and relationship with the Sovereign Lord of all creation.

What is your relationship with God like? Do you know him?

May our Lord bless you.

Tim

 

Working With Youth - Episode #4 honoringGodcast

Today I would like to share with you a discussion I had with TJ and Aaron about working with youth and honoring God in the process.  My friends TJ and Aaron and I have all worked as Youth Ministers.

In our discussion we talk about being relevant in our approach to working with youth and the importance of a firm foundation in the Bible to help youth continue in their relationship with God as they move into adult-hood.

 

Download 0004 honoringGodcast - Working with Youth - TJ-Aaron-Tim.mp3 (12692.5K)

Leave a comment and tell us your thoughts about this podcast.

Blessings

Tim

5 Ways We Fail to Honor God in Our Daily Life

I generally try to keep my posts positive and encouraging but I believe we need to consider, today, some ways we fail to honor God. My hope and prayer is you will find encouragement in this post and work hard to make changes as needed so God is honored in all parts of your life.

5 Ways We Fail to Honor God in Our Daily Life

We don't obey Him – One of the most obvious ways we can fail to honor God is to be disobedient. There are many possible reasons or excuses why people disobey God. I am not going to explore all the possibilities now—I'll save that for a later post—but they all come down to obedience or disobedience no matter what the reason. In short, the truth is this, if we understand and truly know who God is and understand our relationship with Him and how much He loves us there is no good reason to disobey Him. We should do, without hesitation, whatever God tells us to do but that is hard sometimes since our flesh doesn't like some of what God wants. Jesus said it like this: "If you love me, you will obey what I command" (John 14:15). We fail to honor God when we disobey Him.

 

We don't invite Him into our everyday life—Let me share an example of this from my life. On many occasions, I have been very excited about something and wanted to tell someone but there was no one around to tell. Later, it occurred to me I should have taken the time to share my thoughts, praise, or concerns with God but I failed to do so. Just like I would talk with a best friend I can talk with God about anything. Another side to this is simply never going to God in prayer or never reading in His word. God wants to be included in every moment of our time. He wants to rejoice with us; He wants to comfort us in our sorrow. He wants to help and encourage us in our difficult times and see and hear our joy and excitement in the good times. We fail to honor God when we don't invite Him into our everyday life.

 

We make it all about us – Sometimes, we get things backwards and think and act like everything should revolve around us. It's not about us. It's about Jesus. It is tempting to think this is only true for Christians—that it's all about Jesus, that people of other faiths have a different reality. In thinking this we are still making it about us—as if my thoughts or beliefs make the difference in the truth concerning the Creator of all. The truth found in the Bible is that it is all about Jesus no matter your religion or beliefs. There is no other God. Jesus is the only way to a saving relationship with the one-and-only God. No matter what a person believes in this life, the Bible says, "every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." We fail to honor God when we make it all about us and our beliefs.

 

We take credit for what God has done in our lives — Our pride often prevents us from giving credit where credit is due. Rather than saying God has blessed us in a certain situation we often say something like this, it took a lot of hard word but I finally did it. It may be true that we worked hard but God made it possible. God gave us the abilities to think and act the way we needed in that situation. God gave us the skills needed to accomplish the task, the determination to see it through, the inspiration and encouragement to believe it could be done, and the grace to allow all the circumstances to fall into place. In many cases all we have to do is suit up and show up. God is behind every good thing in our lives—we fail to honor God when we take credit for what He has done.

 

We don't go and make disciples—Jesus commanded us to "go and make disciples of all nations..." in Matthew 28:19. Many people have taken this command to heart and have dedicated their lives to serving God. But, Jesus didn't say, "some of you should go and make disciples." This is a command for all of us. We all have different skills, talents, abilities, and also different callings in life. Jesus' command is for all followers and He expects us to follow His command in whatever way we are skilled or gifted by the Holy Spirit. God knows we are not all meant to be missionaries in a foreign land or pastors. God also knows we all have a gifting, talent, or skill to be used for his honor and glory. If nothing else, we all should tell what God has done for us when the opportunity arises and the rest of the time live a life that honors God. Jesus said ^"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16)." We fail to honor God when we don't go and make disciples.

Why don't you take a moment and leave a comment to let us know your thoughts about this post.

Here are some other posts that are specifically about honoring God:

Honoring God

5 Ways to Honor God Today

How to Honor God as a Young Adult

5 Ways to Honor God as a Parent

5 More Ways to Honor God as a Parent

Honoring God with Silence

May our Lord bless you and keep you in His gracious love and care.

Tim

100 Most Read Bible Verses in March and April 2009

I came across this blog post on BibleGateway.com and thought it was very interesting. They list the 100 most read Bible Verses on BibleGateway.com for the months of March and April 2009.

The 100 most-read Bible verses at BibleGateway.com

Are your favorites on the list? Leave a comment and let us know.

Here is a previous post with my Top Five List of Favorite Bible Verses.

Blessings

Tim