For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16). One of the major themes in the gospel of John is eternal life. I love John 17:3 when Jesus says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”. Wait a minute! That’s all there is to eternal life? “KNOW” God? What in the world does that mean? The answer is this: to “know” God means we have an intimate, personal, loving relationship with God as our Father and Jesus our Lord and Savior.

We don’t simply want to be religious – we want to be in the presence of our loving God. And, we desperately want God to be with us as we go through this life. We look forward to going into eternity where we will have beautiful, unbroken fellowship with God that is beyond description. In John 6 many disciples wanted Jesus as long as He miraculously gave them what they wanted; however, they did not want a deep, devoted, loving relationship with Him. That’s not you and me. We want to “KNOW” God. We want God with us. Read John 6:60-69. Then listen to an awesome song entitled Here with Me by MercyMe.

John 6:60-69

So then many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This statement is very unpleasant; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, aware that His disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Is this offensive to you? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh provides no benefit; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray Him. And He was saying, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

As a result of this many of His disciples left, and would no longer walk with Him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. And we have already believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”