1 John 2:25 ²⁵And this is the promise that he promised to us: eternal life.

The deep longing of the human soul is to know if there is something beyond this life. If this life is all there is, people will live in despair because this life has so many troubles, pains, and sorrows. The danger and temptation is to descend into animal-like thinking, to mere survival and the satisfaction of our instincts. Appeasing the flesh leads to an empty cycle: get up, eat, work, sleep, buy things that make life comfortable, accumulate what we can so we can have garage sales, go in debt to have nice cars and houses, save for retirement so we can continue this lifestyle, find an affordable nursing home to live out our last days in comfort, prolong our life as long as we can because we know that this is all there is. Ecclesiastes describes this type of mindset as futile, a chasing after the wind, an empty pursuit of meaninglessness.

God offers a different way, one that brings peace, which people are looking for but do not know how to find. Followers of Jesus have hope because we believe in Jesus’ promise of eternal life.  This hope is based on the promise of God, summed up well in the words of John 3:16: God “gave his only begotten Son.” God’s gift assures us of life now and forever (John 5:24; 6:40, 54). This life is not simply the breath of life that fills our lungs and empowers our bodies, but the Breath of God that brings new creation in Christ.