Jesus Christ is our life

I remember how one of the teachers told us at school that life is hidden in proteins and when scholars will manage to produce proteins in an artificial way, they will manage to produce life. We can not believe this, because the origin of life is not in proteins, but it is in God. At the beginning of the Gospel of John, God says about His Son, Jesus Christ, the following things:

All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. (The Gospel of John 1:3–4)(NASB)

In the Epistle to Colossians Apostle Paul writes so about Christ and about His second coming:

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)(NASB)

Besides the fact that the origin of our life and of each living creature is in Christ, there are other reasons, why Apostle Paul named the Savior “our life”, of the believers’. Here are these reasons.

We have risen together with Him for eternal life

Through our sinful nature and life in accord with this nature, we were condemned to eternal death, to hell, to an eternal separation from God’s face. But, through the sacrifice of the Savior on the cross, we have received forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. That is exactly why Apostle Paul says the following words to the Christians from Colossae, words that apply to all Christians of all times:

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1–4)(NASB)

Now some don’t admit this rising of ours, but when we will pass on the other side of the tomb, that of physical death, all will admit the rising that was given by Jesus Christ to us, those who believe in Him from all heart.

Jesus Christ offers appreciation and healthy relations

The quality of our life is set up the most from the relations we have and especially from the way we are seen by other people. Many have a bitter life because they don’t have appreciation, but humiliation and contempt in all things. This contempt is of different reasons, as could be the fact that you are rich or poor. Some are despised because they are poor, and some because they are rich. A nation despises others and behaves arrogantly with people of other nations. Then, social position is for many times the one that makes people despise one another and the same contempt affects the quality of their life in a bad way. When we become people of God by faith in Jesus Christ, we are set free of these prejudices and of the contempt that comes together with them. The same things happened in the ancient world, in Colossae, before the church was planted there. Greeks were despising Jews, because Jews didn’t recognize and didn’t know the Greek culture. Jews despised Greeks because they didn’t know the Law of God, because they were not part in the abrahamic covenant, and because they called culture, what was idolatry and debauchery. All other nations were despised by both Greeks and Jews and were called barbarians, or wild, uneducated, etc. Scythians were a part of those barbarian nations. Their slaves hated those who were free, those who were thier masters, and master were despising the slaves and considered them like animals. Some of te Roman authors came to the point to place the slave in the category of speaking animals, so great was that man and others’ contempt. In this context, full of hate and scorn, the Lord Jesus Christ came to bring true life, eternal life, and to give quality to ou lives on this earth, departing this hate. Those who became children of God, no matter what was their social or material or national position was once, now they became one in Christ, as the Word of God says:

A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)(NASB)

Only in Christ was possible such an understanding and joy among people and such are and should be the relations in the Church.

Jesus Christ brought and teaches us the true forgiveness

You can’t live your life to the quality you want, if you haven’t received forgiveness and if you can not forgive. I have met many people that lay under the burden of their own unforgiveness. They torment themselves because they can’t forgive others. Some of the debtors have already passed away, but they can not forgive them, even if they want this. We, those who believed in Christ, have experienced His forgiveness and this forgiveness is the model of which we have to lead ourselves. That’s why, we can forgive one another with a complete forgiveness, as the Word of God says urges us:

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. (Colossians 3:12–13)(NASB)

 Jesus Christ gives and keeps peace in hearts

Christians are not exempt from the problems all people pass through. But we have a peace that others don’t, we have the peace of Christ, and the Bible says about it that it surpasses every human understanding. When Apostle Paul was imprisoned and he knew that the next day his execution was planned, this peace made him sleep deeply, so that when the angel came to set him free from jail, he had to kick him in the rib. Don’t you want to have such a peace every time you pass through difficult situations in life and when you see death near you? This is the peace that Christ gives to those who trust in Him, as the Word of God urges us:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)(NASB)

This peace gives much beauty and delight to our lives when it is present in our hearts.

Jesus Christ teaches us how to live beautifully through His Word

Remember how overwhelming was the school program, and then the college, etc. Now our children’s study program is more overwhelming. Neither then nor now there were subjects to teach our children and young men how to live their life beautifully, and elementary wisdom for life. Maybe that’s why Mark Twain was compelled to say:

I let no school influence my education (Mark Twain)

Sometimes, you can be shocked to see how people with master’s degree make so naive decisions concerning their life. The Lord Jesus let His Word to us, that teaches us to live beautifully our lives. That’s why, He says:

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)(NASB)

We have received all these things listed above only through Jesus Christ, and they make our life beautiful on this earth, and then, when we leave this world, He, our Savior will take us into the Kingdom of His Father. Christ is our life!

Translated by Djugostran Felicia