Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life

John 3:36

I saw something new at the supermarket today. They were doing a new special offer – “Buy one now – get one free next week.” I think it’s an initiative to try and reduce food waste. We all like the idea of getting something for free, so in the traditional “Buy one get one free” offer, we’d always take the extra one, even if we didn’t need it. It would invariably sit around in the kitchen, go off before it could be eaten, and would be thrown away. Supermarkets kept making these special offers, though, as a way of drawing us into their stores. If one supermarket starts giving away free stuff, the others have to do so as well, otherwise they’ll lose the custom. Somehow, we then got ourselves into a position where we all expect something for nothing.

Unfortunately, although we have the same expectations with God, he does not operate in the same way. Lots of people believe in God and accept that there is a heaven, and do nothing about it. Others think that although they’re not Christians, they lead a good life, always helping their neighbours and giving money to charity, and so therefore will go to heaven. After all, God is a loving God, and he’s hardly going to punish a good person, is he? The problem with that logic is made clear in today’s verse. There is only one way to get eternal life – and that is to believe in Jesus, that is to accept that he died for you, and live your life accordingly. Those who reject Jesus will find themselves rejected by God. Whilst Jesus took on the sin of mankind, we have to acknowledge this. If we do, and we accept Jesus as our saviour, the price has been paid for our sin. If we do not, then we are still held to account for our sin, and then find ourselves under God’s wrath.

Do you believe in the son? Do you know that he died for you? Do you live your life as one who has been saved by Christ, doing all that you can to honour and praise him? Or have you rejected Jesus, and refused to acknowledge him in your life?