The Vapor life Part II

 

1 John 5:6-12

It was not that long ago we discussed the vapor life, that life is common to all people, it’s much like a flower, one day it is blooming and the next it is dead; Jesus tells us that is the best we can hope for without Him.  In 1John 5:6-12 we have a testimony concerning the Son of God, and in that account we have a guarantee of eternal life. 

Before addressing the eternal life, what does the vapor life look like?  Like all life it begins at conception and then birth, and it goes something like this for most people; at birth there is need for nurturing, then to simplify this time line, you get your first haircut, you go to school, you get a job or you get married, you buy a home or you rent, you have children, or maybe you don’t, and then you retire, and at the end of your time line you once more need care and nurturing, and you die, that is the vapor life.  The center of the vapor life is you and it is void of authority, as old Blue Eyes sang this song, “You did it your way!”

The eternal life addresses all the same things as the vapor life, with this exception, at some point in that time line you come to understand that the vapor life is empty, it has no hope, and often at this point we begin to search for meaning, and often we try to fill that hole in our hearts with stuff or people, or it may be religion, but to have eternal life, that life is found only in Jesus Christ.  The apostle John states in verses 10-12, these words: “Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself.   Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.  And this is the testimony that God gave 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.”

One of the most quoted verses in the Bible is John 3:16, and to transfer from the vapor life to the eternal life requires a person to put faith in what that verse imparts.  But Jesus goes on after verse 16 to share why many will not leave the vapor life and put their faith and hope in the Him.  Jesus addressed the why in verses 19 & 20, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.”  Note: it is so important that we understand Jesus is talking from God’s view, not the worlds, and surely not man’s.)  “For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”  It comes down to, will I do it my way and enter eternity void of a relationship with God, never knowing the peace and joy that He has to offer, or to at some point, and I pray that may be today, to bow your knee and confess that the vapor life is at best empty, and that you want to enter into God’s time line, by having this testimony that God gave us eternal life and this life is in his Son.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice