Modern Christianity in numerous instances is leaving the Lord Jesus standing at the door and knocking while we are seeking to learn how to build a large church, how to win the world for Christ, how to get rich, how to be healed, and so forth. If we will just push a little harder we can get (or force) God to do so and so.

Perhaps it is time for us to forget about ourselves and worship God. Of all the losses that occurred in Eden, the most tragic was the loss of fellowship with God. No doubt God is waiting to see who among us will turn away from our own desires and efforts, look up, and worship and adore our Creator. Surely the Lord will draw near to us when He sees we love Him more than we do His works.

God is Life. God is Love. God is a consuming Fire. Life, love, and fire. These are closely related. Out of the Fire of God comes Life. Out of the Fire of God comes Love. Sin and death are consumed by the Fire of God. Let us desire always to live in the Fire that is God Almighty.

The Lord Jesus is the Way to Life. The Lord Jesus is the Truth concerning Life. The Lord Jesus is the Life itself.

"I am the Resurrection and the Life."

To be filled with the Lord Jesus is to be filled with endless, incorruptible, resurrection Life. This is what the Lord came to bring us. We, the dead children of Adam, can receive the fullness of Divine Life if we will receive the Lord Jesus each day of our pilgrimage, hear and obey His Word, and place our trust in the Father. No condemnation rests on those who receive Jesus each day for the blood of the Lamb washes away all their sins.

A verse that always has been a puzzle to me is as follows:

But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. (Mark 10:30)

The bothersome phrase is "and in the world to come eternal life."

I always had thought we Christians have eternal life now, so what does it mean to be given eternal life in the world to come?

As we have discussed the several elements of eternal life we see that some of them we can have in part in the present hour but all of them will be ours in a much greater fullness in the world to come.

Being in the moral image of Christ—the desire and power to behave in a righteous, holy manner and to be sternly obedient to God.

The indwelling of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit—untroubled rest in the Father through the Son.

Freedom from condemnation and fellowship with God.

Deliverance from the bondages of the world, sin, and self-will.

Fruitfulness—the forming of Christ in us and the ability to form Christ in others.

Rulership—the ability to enforce one's will.

Survival—not to be brought down to where we cannot control our own mind, emotions, actions, prayers.

To be continued.