Eternal life is a mystery to us. What does it really mean? It's hard for us to imagine a never-ending life, yet we crave it. Our souls aspire to live on, even after death, in the presence of God. We want eternal life for ourselves; we want it for others as we follow Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations. Eternal life is a chief topic among Christians. Yet when it comes to the volume of what Jesus talks about, eternal life only ranks tenth on the list.
After counting the number of times Jesus talks about various topics in the Gospels, I'm counting down this list on my Season 3 podcast series, "The Top 11 Themes of Jesus." The June podcast focuses on how believers are rewarded with eternal life.
As with most things we treasure on earth, Jesus flips our thinking again by bringing in this twist: The eternal life He promises starts now, not in some distant post-death future!
In this podcast, I provide the scriptural basis for this assertion (which I also write about in my book and video series, "Live Like You're Loved," in the chapter, Live Like You're Eternal). I also explore a couple of sub-themes of eternal life: We will receive a reward, but Jesus expects a sacrifice will be required of us in order to receive that reward. For example, Jesus said, "He who would save his life will lose it, and he who would lose his life will save it" and "you must take up your cross and follow me." Jesus grants eternal life but also takes us on a journey.
To help me work through these scriptural concepts, I'm joined in the second half of the podcast by author, speaker and chaplain Victoria Chapin. Victoria does a wonderful job of sharing some of the same verses I do, plus others, to update our thinking on what eternal life means. Victoria also talks about a personal tragedy that helped her better understand eternal life.
I hope you'll check out this podcast and be blessed by it! You can either start on the Free Content page of my website as https://www.CecilTaylorMinistries.com/free-content, or you can search for "Cecil Taylor Monthly Podcasts" on Apple, Spotify, and Podbean.
Make Cecil Taylor Ministries' content part of your 7-day practical faith journey! In addition to free blogs and podcasts, please join our first online book study. Starting June 21, we'll study my book, "The Next Thing: A Christian Model for Dealing with Crisis in Personal Life." Slots are still open, so please sign up at Store.CecilTaylorMinistries.com by selecting "The Next Thing" from the left panel, then scrolling down to the study registration option.