Hope, Confidence, and Eternal Life
- Brooke Singleton
- Nov 27, 2024
- 3 min read
“In Jesus, we HAVE eternal life. It’s in us already. Paul chose to stake his very life on that truth.”
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” 1 John 5:13-14
Our verse today holds gold buried in its words. It reminds us of two of the greatest promises we have in knowing Jesus: a bold, unshakeable, dependent hope, and that He hears us.
If you’ll dig for the gold in the Greek with me for a second, it’ll tell us that the little word “in” in the first sentence is actually a word that shows purposed action. It means we don’t just acknowledge the name of God, but we live into that name, live into its example, take it literally and “become like.” This letter is written to those who don’t just acknowledge the name of Christ, but who literally follow what it is to bear the name of Jesus. And it is to those people, that the unshakeable promise of eternal life is given.
In Jesus, we HAVE eternal life. It’s in us already. Paul chose to stake his very life on that truth. And he wanted, with all that he had, for us to know that fact, truly know it in our bones and walk securely in it.
Armed with that security and grounded in that truth, Paul lays the next promise in front of us to grab: living in that name comes with the gift of a confidence, or the Greek says “a frankness, bluntness,” that if we ask anything according to God's will, He hears us. The will of the Father is something so much richer than what we can wrap our minds around, but as a mom charged with little souls, I need something a little concrete to hold on to. I believe the Word makes the will of the Father pretty practical for us. The will of the Father is:
That His children would be saved and set apart through His son, Jesus (John 6:40)
To prosper us and not to harm us, to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11)
That we would be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2)
That we would act justly, love mercy and walk humbly (Micah 6:8)
That by doing good we would silence the ignorance of foolish people (1 Peter 2:15)
That our faithful living would advance God's kingdom into the world (Daniel 2:44)
That much would be made of the name of Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:31)
We hold eternity in our hearts. It’s already ours to rest in. And if we hold to that reality and ask for His will above our own, the answer will always be yes. That is the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
Action Steps:
Read over these scriptures and google some more about the will of our Father. Hold each one up to your requests and see if they are in line with the Father's will, or if there is something better that He could be working out.
Listen to “Living Hope” by Phil Wickham
Written by Brooke, mom of 3