Read: 1 John 5:1-12
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5:11-12)
Reflect:
I once heard pop-culture science journalist Karl Kruszelnicki speak to a cohort of Australian school students. It was the year 2000, the new millennium, a year of hopes, dreams and new starts, the year the Olympics came to Australia and I met and married my husband. Then a high school science and maths teacher, I was keen to hear what Kruszelnicki had to say, but I remember only one thing from his talk.
Kruszelnicki told the students that, given the speed of scientific discovery and development, he thought their generation would either be the last generation to die or the first generation to live forever.
Such a bold claim. It seemed far fetched to me then, and more so now, but it has stuck with me for 18 years. We may have discovered quarks and found evidence for bosons, identified telomeres and perfected gene splicing techniques, but still, doctors can’t bring someone back from the dead when they are even three days in the grave, like Jesus did.
I am certain that I know a far better, more reliably guaranteed route to eternal life than any scientific, medical and technological advancement. I know this method works because it has been proven, and the historical evidence for its successful occurrence is overwhelming. God has given me eternal life, and this gift of eternal life is found in his Son, Jesus Christ – the first to be raised from the dead by the Father.
If I relied on Kruszelnicki’s science to keep me alive I’d either be devastated when I die despite all science can do, or I’d be disappointed by an elongated life stretched thin at the edges, lacking the abundance and fullness of life in Jesus Christ. I put my faith in Jesus Christ and God’s gift, not in the alluring false promises of Kruszelnicki or any other scientific prophet.
Crux:
Eternal life is found in God’s Son, not in science.
Respond:
LORD God Almighty,
You have the words of eternal life.
You are Source and Sustainer, Sacrifice and Saviour.
You are the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End,
the everlasting One who was and is and is to come, the I AM.
I bow my head in reverential awe before you.
Science, medicine and mathematics are great, but they can’t measure you, they can’t describe you, they can’t explain you, they can’t reveal you. Only your Son, your Spirit, your Scripture can do that.
In Scripture, I see your generosity to me in sharing your life with me in your Son.
In the testimony of your Spirit, I know the truth that Jesus is the Son of God.
In your Son, I have eternal life, abundant life, that does not rely upon medicine or technology, but upon the Creator of the Universe, who does not fail.
Thank you.
Amen.
crux: 