The last of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”

The last of “Taking hold of life that is truly life.”
So this is what we have established over the last few entries: 1.the fact that I love this statement “Take hold of life that is truly life” & 2. We grab a hold of true life by walking in the fruit of the Spirit and fighting the good fight of faith. I like what a friend pointed out about the fruit of the spirit after the last blog entry. These are things God ordained for us to do. He referred to Eph 2:10 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Love that script! Mediate on that for awhile………….Ok. Now that we meditated on that let’s get back to business of breaking down “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” good Ol’Greek style. Last entry we found out that the original Greek word for “Take Hold of Life that is truly life” is used in a previous script in 1st Tim 6. I’m going to revert back to the King James for a minute. I usually use NIV but all my study stuff is King James Based. Both 1 Tim 6:12 and 19 says to “Lay Hold On Eternal Life”. (King James, remember? Although “Lay Hold on Eternal Life” sounds pretty cool too.) “Lay Hold On” is the Greek word Epilambanomai.” I’m not going to get all crazy and break it down to the root of these Greek words and where they come from. One of my favorite authors Rick Renner is good for that. I’ll just refer to my Word Study Dictionary. This phrase is used metaphorically, to lay hold of in order to obtain and possess. The next word is Eternal; that is the Greek word Aiōnios. The last word is Zōē for Life. I going to explain “Life” first and then go back to “Eternal”. The reason why is because when these 2 Greek words collide in the New Testament the meaning becomes amazing and I want to capture as much of it as possible. You can simply say Zoe is energetic life, like the life my daughter Saige is full of. She is so full of energy. I often wonder if we should have named her Zoe because how lively she is. Aiōnios for “Eternal” carries the meaning of without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be. Now back to Zoe and Aionios colliding in both 1st Tim 6:12 & 19. Listen to how my W.S.D. describes this collision: “Whenever it is used for the life which God gives to those who believe in Christ it is to be understood as referring not only to duration, but more so to quality. That is, it is not merely a life that is eternal in duration, but is primarily something different from the natural life of man, i.e., the life of God.” WOW! We don’t have to wait till the “Sweet By & By” to get the life Christ promised. Heaven is going to be amazing but we can have Heaven here on earth. This “Eternal Life” is in front of us waiting for us to grab hold of it. This is not talking about salvation per-say but the life of salvation. The unauthorized “King JimmyB” version would put it this way. “Grab on to that amazing, energetic life of Christ, the life you’re made to live!”
Since my last blog entry I had a kid. Well I didn’t have the kid, my wife did. Sasha Grace was born Dec 3rd @ 10:14. She is beautiful, looks just like her older sister. I am a blessed man! You’ll be able to tell in the next few entries that I am one proud daddy. Until then: Stay blessed, it’s your choice.

1 comment:

TeVeT said...

It seems to me that the people that have taken a hold of the Truth about eternal life with Jesus are the ones that enjoy this life more. The people that are looking forward to Eternity are the ones who enjoy the present. I mean the one's that dont care if He takes them home today or 40 years from now. The ones that are completely confident in His Word and His Promise are the one's who are living confidently and passionatley.

Whereas the people living in the moment, the people who are not sure of how spectacular Eternity really is, are the ones who are miserable now.
Its like in the back of their mind or deep in their soul they know they are without Eternal life and so their concious mind is on edge and they dont have Peace to enjoy the present.
Am I making sense?

I see that Eternal Joy in your entiries.