The gospel tells us that we have eternal life, and the gospel tells us that we must lay hold on eternal life. We have been given an earnest, a down payment, in the person of the Holy Spirit, and we are urged to lean forward to the time when all things will be made new. The reason we can lean toward eternal life is because we already have it. Because we already have it, we long for more of it.
Eternal life is a book, with chapters. Eternal life is a story, a word, and like the Word of God Himself, it is a never-ending book. We must not make the mistake of thinking of this as a static reality—it is an ever-progressing reality, an unfolding reality. If it is not unfolding, then you have some reason to think you have not opened the book at all.
This is a story that grips. If you have read one page, you want to read the rest. If you have no desire whatever to read the rest, then perhaps you have the book up on a shelf in your heart’s library, never opened, and fastened shut with big clasps.
Â
The Christian faith is a book club. We gather together to talk about what we have been reading. We gather together to read one another. We gather together to be read. We gather together as characters in God’s story, and anybody who is not gripped by the story . . . is not gripped by the story.
Because we have been called into a story, and have confessed the good confession in the presence of others, we must follow through. There are pages in front of us. God has prepared good works beforehand for us to walk in (Eph. 2:10). Our lives are written, the play has been cast, the roles have been filled. The only thing that we do not know is whether or not we will fill those roles in a way that is a blessing to ourselves and others, or not. It will fulfill the intent of God, but He calls us to add our amen to His intent. If we do, then we can yearn for the next chapter, looking forward to it.