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. And 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
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”