Life is a funny thing. What is it? Is it our heart beating? Is it the actions we take? Is it our reason for 'being'? What does it mean to say our life has changed? And again what does it mean to say our life is finished or over? What is the difference between making a choice and a life decision? It is all of these things which come to mind when I think of life - but what is it really?
The dictionary has 12 different definitions for life focussing on our different uses of the term, but I think the encyclopedia really hit it spot on with 'life, although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life...'. So to clarify it is our life, a human's life to which I want to make notes of.
Relevant dictionary definitions could be - A living being, especially a person; The physical, mental, and spiritual experiences that constitute existence; and Human existence, relationships, or activity in general.
So if this is what life is, just what does it mean when Jesus says 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life'? Not I have a life, or I can show you a great life, or even I know the way to real life, but I am the life.
In order to answer this question we need to first find out where life comes from - yet another question. In looking at the origin of life the encyclopedia starts off with 'Fundamental religious concepts center around special creation and belief in the
infusion of life into inanimate substance by God or another superhuman entity' before continuing with various scientific attempts to explain away how we (and the world in which we live) came to be.
So if life is originally given to us by another, then Jesus is saying that He is the one who gave us life?! That is one outrageous statement! Here is this guy, kinda poor and scruffy around the edges, walking around from place to place with no home of his own, saying that He is the one who gave everyone life however many years ago when humans were first created.
While it is outrageous, that is exactly who Jesus was - and is. He was there in the beginning because He is not just some guy, He is also God. He gave us life, and gave it to us for a reason - that we might be with Him. Jesus is not just telling us this but He is also giving us a way that we can have the life which He gave us - 'I am the way' - through Him! And how can we trust Him, and know that what He is saying is the truth, and not just another spun up line like all the other people walking around - 'I am the truth'. I don't know why anyone would want to put that much pressure and attention on themselves unless it was true! But not only that, but other things He said and did which show all that He is.
Life is still a funny thing, and many of those questions still remain when pondering such thoughts but there is one thing which I know about life which makes all of them seem so much less important. My life is not my own, it was given to me - and so what I do should also reflect my thankfulness for such a gift, and should be in parallel with what the one who gave me life would want me to do with it. My life belongs to Jesus and so it is for Him that my life is lived.
