Monday Devotional: September 19, 2022

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 (NRSVUE)

Many of us connect eternal life with life after death, something that happens after we die. Paul offers a powerful vision of eternal life now: a life rooted in gentleness, love, endurance, and faith. It is a life seeking to love as God loves and to walk in God’s ways, following Jesus into the world. He describes this as the life “to which you were called and for which you were made.” This, he says, is eternal life.

Eternal life is not only some other plane of existence after we die. It means living the depth dimension of the now. Eternal life means expanding our field of vision to see the bigger picture of God’s life moving in us and others, a life that is bigger and more permanent than our immediate circumstances. Paul says this is abundant life, eternal life, living squarely in the presence of God here, right now.

To make his point, Paul contrasts eternal life with a picture of a painful life. He describes a life never satisfied, chasing more and more, inevitably empty and broken. We can easily be “trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” Echoing Jesus’ parable in Luke, Paul warns against mistaking affluence for an abundant life.

Abundant life is not built on stuff we buy, our bank accounts, our appearance, or our status. These are the world’s marks of a successful life. Jesus offers much, much more: eternal life that we start living now, rooted in love, full of energy and vitality that cannot be destroyed by changing circumstances. This abundant life — walking with God, loving as God loves with gentleness, faith, and endurance — is the truest and eternal life. The life “for which you were made.”

Prayer

O God, open my eyes to the eternal life before me right now, your abundant life in me. Amen

By Amy Oden, Upper Room Disciplines 2022, p. 319.