“If you have eternal life at all, it simply means that you have the Son, Jesus Christ now! … Eternal life is not a peculiar feeling inside! It is not your ultimate destination, to which you will go when you are dead. If you are born again, eternal life is that quality of life that you possess right now, at this very moment, in your own physical body, with your own two feet on the ground, and in the world TODAY. And where does this life come from? Of Him! He is that life! So if you have eternal life, it means that you have Somebody, Jesus Christ, and the life that you possess is of Him.” —Major Ian Thomas
Ian Thomas had a big influence in my dad’s life, and my dad had (and has!) a huge influence on mine. By challenging common Christian misunderstandings about life as a believer, they have been used to show many a new and different way to live: By letting the life of Christ live through them NOW.
When you were physically born, it was a one-time event—a birth date that you celebrate every year. The same is true of your spiritual birthday—the day when the Spirit of God gave birth to your spirit (John 3:6). There’s only one. It happens once, instantaneously, internally, supernaturally, and dramatically. You can celebrate it the rest of your life, but it only happens once! At the beginning of this new life is what we call “regeneration,” the mercy of God making you righteous and just through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! —2 Corinthians 5:17.
You may not always feel like it, you may not even act like it, but it’s true TODAY, NOW!
Eternal Father, I believe, but help my unbelief today. My feelings and my actions don’t always reflect what is true about who I am in Your Son. Please begin to live Your eternal life through me right now. No way I can do this on my own. I quit and ask that You would do it. Make the one-time birth of spiritual regeneration impact ongoing reality. Amen.
