This is your LIFE

In Amazing Grace, A Vocabulary of Faith, the extremely brilliant Kathleen Norris, compiles a list of words that have perplexed her over the years of her faith journey. Norris is one of my favorite writers and I read her book with great pleasure. She did, however, somehow omit three words that have perplexed me over some years.

In the next three posts on this blog, I will attempt to unravel my tangled thoughts on LIFE, DEATH and KINGDOM.

First, LIFE.

 When Christians talk about “life” they are often intending eternal life. The idea of life after death has been a part of many major faiths for thousands of years. The ancient Jews did not believe that the soul lived on after death, but by Jesus’ time the idea of “resurrection” was fairly well-established although it was still a matter of some debate. Christians believe in eternal life, although most of us are willing to admit that we don’t actually know what happens then or there.

Beautiful as our ordinary life is with its blessings of fresh air, meaningful work, sex and chocolate, I think Jesus was intending something more when he talked about LIFE. And Jesus talked about life a lot.

I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly.  John 10:10

This line is usually quoted to assure people that their lives will be happy. I think that’s a mis-reading. The abundance promised here is a fullness, a completeness. We know Jesus wasn't talking about goods or even family or friends. Jesus never prized those things. He is promising nothing less than a God-filled life, the life he, in fact, lived on earth. Jesus’ mission was to bring us into that life, to make that life possible for us.

He who finds his life will lose it. Matthew 7:14:

Here again is another familiar line. It is less comforting on the surface but no less comforting when we look deeply into it. When we find the life that Jesus wants us to have, we lose our old life. In the parlance of our time, losing our old life means giving up on friends, family, job, home, habits, pleasures or even all of the above. Jesus is not asking that. He is offering us a life of abundance, a life filled with God in whatever context we are right now. No need to leave your family, move to a faraway town or join a monastery. When we take up that offer, we lose our old life, the empty life, the hard-hearted, stiff necked life of no God. When we find our life, we find our true selves, the selves we were created to be.

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. . John 14:6*

This statement is the most compelling because it identifies Jesus as life itself. Our lives depend on Jesus. No one reaches God except through him. This life that we long for, that is our gift, this life that is more than biological existence and more even than our daily activities, pleasures and pains is Jesus himself. The mystery of this life of ours in Christ can never really be explained. But it can be experienced. It can be glimpsed, fleetingly felt.

I would wager anything that, if you are reading this post, you have felt this “life” at some point. It is beautiful, but a life of faith isn't about peak moments of sublime grace. What we must do is search for the life that is promised to us and trust that we are living it daily.

And this life we are living, this God-filled life of grace is, in fact, eternal life. In other words, eternal life has already begun. We only have to realize it and live it. 

Yes, we continue is some way after “death”. Yes, God is in charge of that. And, no, we don’t know what our life after death will be like. The Scriptural promises of eternal life are many and convincing. But I don’t think Jesus meant us to bide our time in hopes of the afterlife. I think Jesus was telling us that the life he promised is available to us as soon as we follow him. When Jesus is life to you, as he said in the passage quoted above, you are living eternal life.

Imagine your life infused with God. Your home, the work you do, the people you love, all the things that make you laugh or smile or cry – all this is in God. Everything in life is more than we see or know. Every word, act, song, dance has meaning materially and spiritually. Jesus who walked on this earth made this life for us. This is abundant life. This is eternal life. This is holiness.

Listen in your mind and heart to the words of the hymn:

Breathe on my breath of God,

So shall I never die,
But live with thee the perfect life
Of thine eternity.

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*That this statement has long been an excuse for Christian exceptionalism is to be regretted. Personally I hold that the belief that Jesus only cares about, influences or saves those who are professed Christians is the most egregious nonsense.