01 May What must I do to have eternal life? – May 13

By Firman Rianto

What must I do to have eternal life?

A man came to a good teacher asking this question believing that a certain good deed would purchase an entry ticket.

Eternity has been placed into our heart, us who are created in the image of God. There are only two eternity, eternal punishment or eternal life. This man wants the latter. He has done so well in loving every persons that he has crossed path in his life. He never murdered, never committed adultery, never steal, never lie, always honouring his father and mother, and loving others as he loves himself. And the good teacher, whose name is Jesus, did not deny that.

Is good deed enough?

This question echoes his second question to Jesus. And it is met with a negative answer; it is not.

Jesus, who loved him, knows that he has great treasure and how he delight in those treasure. Jesus knows he wants in to eternal life. Yet he also knows that what now matters to him in eternal life is his wealth. Appropriate now to recite the author of ‘Desiring God’, “everybody wants out of hell, but not to be with Jesus.”

What do I still lack?

To answer, again I quote John Piper, “The key is: Do you treasure [Jesus] more than everything?”

Why does Jesus matters?

Because he is eternal life as John the Son of Zebedee, author of the Fourth Gospel, writes in his first letter.

“[Jesus Christ] is the true God and eternal life.” And interestingly he closes his letter with a command “keep yourselves from idols.”

The man at the start of this article has as his delight, his idol, his great wealth. This state of his heart has been shouted by his going away from Jesus sorrowful as he asked him to delight himself in the Lord.

One, if not the only, answer to the title of this article is written by King David, a man after God’s own heart:

“Delight yourself in the Lord.”