THE PRECIOUS GIFT

OF ETERNAL LIFE

Raphael Oye Taiwo

            Almost everybody loves to receive gifts. It may be a postcard, a small book, a bunch of fresh flowers … it is not the monetary value that really makes our hearts glow with joy when a gift we receive, but the fact that there is someone somewhere there in the world who still cares enough for us to bother giving something away to us.

          If we feel happy when we receive gifts of little monetary value, how much happier we do feel when we receive high-value gifts that help to make our lives far more comfortable than it has been before. You need a $3,000 to get a big problem you are encountering solved. Someone, out of love, sends you a $4,568 without strings attached. How grateful you will feel to the giver.

          The only problem is the temporal duration of every material gift received. That bouquet of cut of flowers received with joy by that lady will soon end up where all rotten flowers and plants end up. That smashing Japanese job of a car that nice uncle of yours sends to you as a gift will sooner or later found itself among the worthless materials on the scrap yard.

          But there is a gift that you will never need to throw away or lock up in a box which no one may bother to open for the next 100 years. It is a most precious gift all the money in the world cannot buy.

          The gift of eternal life.

Rom 6:23 

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

          This gift is so precious that only God Himself can provide it. It cost Him the life of His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the painful cross of Calvary.

          Eternal life is the nature of God, which enables the recipient live forever, just like God will live forever, in heaven. It is this eternal life (or everlasting) that makes us suitable and qualified for heaven.

          Anybody who leaves the world without this gift of eternal life will end up in the burning hell, the lake of  fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Mat 25:41

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

HOW TO RECEIVE THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE

How many of the readers of this article have a hope of having a nice gift sent to him for Christmas by the head of his country. Few, if any.

But anyone who wants can receive from God the precious gift of eternal life – now!

John 7:37 

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

The gift of eternal (or everlasting) life can be got from the Father only through Jesus

John 10:27-28 

27. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 

28. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

John 17:1-2 

1. These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 

2. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

1John 5:11 

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

The gift of eternal (or everlasting) life is free

John 4:14 

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Isa 55:1 

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

This water of everlasting life, this wonderful gift of eternal life, is so precious and priceless that the only way even the richest man can get it is free.

The strange thing is that there are people who try to pay to receive eternal life. Some torture themselves in every way they can imagine in the belief that their self-torture will serve as adequate payment for the precious gift. Some refuse to yield their heart to Jesus but send fat offerings and tithes to churches and ministers in the hope that God will be persuaded to give them His eternal life. 

It is a great insult to the Man of Calvary when a person tries to procure this priceless gift by some kind of payment. We receive eternal life from God as gift only. The Father can never consent to sell it to us.

The gift of eternal (or everlasting) life can be got by faith in Jesus Christ only

John 3:14-16 

14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up

15.  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 5:24 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

John 6:47 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

Joh 6:40 

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

To receive this wonderful gift of eternal life, we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – believe that He is all the Bible says He is: the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, the Savior and Redeemer of mankind, the coming King of kings.

I want you to note that there are two kinds of faith: the head faith and the heart faith. The former deceives one into hell while the other gets a man saved. It is useless to agree mentally that Jesus is all the Bible says He is. This is head faith that never gets anyone saved.

The heart faith agrees with the Bible that Jesus is all the Word of God says He is and that without Him, a man is lost for all eternity. Of course, head faith can get to this point, but will never get further. Heart faith goes beyond this point. It sees his need for the gift of eternal life and bows at the feet of the Savior to ask in humility and repentance for it.

Dear reader, make up your mind today to receive this wonderful, precious, priceless gift of eternal life. Get on your knees right now and ask the good Lord for this precious gift. Tell Him that you have recognized yourself as a sinner, that you are sorry for the sins and are determined to forsake the sins. ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ 1John 1:9.