Heirs of Eternal Life (1 John 5:13)

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
– 1 John 5:13

I want to encourage you to memorize this verse and share this verse. This may be one of the most common verses I use when I’m sharing the gospel with someone else, especially someone who I’ve just met, maybe I’m in an Uber or a Lyft and I’m just getting a ride and I want to make the most of that conversation.

1 John 5:13 teaches us about the certainty of our salvation.

I’ll often ask someone, “Do you know for sure that if you were to die today, if something unexpected were to happen to you, do you know for sure that you would have eternal life in heaven?” And most people don’t know that for sure.

Now, they might say initially, “Yeah, I think so.” Then I’ll just follow up and ask, well, why do you think that? `Then they’ll maybe describe how good they are. A lot of people just think, okay, in the end, my good outweighs my bad, I think I’d be in heaven. Or obviously they might share from a variety of different perspectives, religious perspectives, atheists or agnostic, or most people I feel like I ride in Uber or Lyft with are often Muslim or from a different religion and all of that to say I end up sharing.

I want to encourage you, there’s a way you can know for sure that you have eternal life in heaven when you die. And then I share 1 John 5:13, I write these things to you. So the Bible actually tells us that those who believe in the name of the Son of God may know that they have eternal life, not just hope or wish, as in maybe this might happen, but you may know you have eternal life when you believe in Jesus.

1 John 5:13 encourages us to share the eternal truths of the gospel.

And obviously, that leads into a conversation about what it means to believe in Jesus, that it’s more than just intellectual ascent to who Jesus is. But that’s where I’ll just share the good news of God’s love in Jesus and invite someone to believe in, to trust in Jesus as the Savior and Lord of their life, and to know they have eternal life as a result. And I just want to encourage you, hide this verse in your heart and share it. Maybe today.

Pray for an opportunity to share 1 John 5:13 with someone today to have that kind of conversation. Just go for it and see what God does. Or if not today, tomorrow, or sometime this week. Oh God, we praise you for the truth of 1 John 5:13, I praise you, oh God, that I know I have eternal life, not based on how good I am and my good outweigh my bad, but because you love me so much that you sent Jesus to die on a cross for me, and all my trust is in him.

This verse reminds us of the assurance of our hope in Christ.

And I know that I have eternal life with you today, and if I die today that you’ll bring me on with you. God, I praise you for eternal life and security and assurance of that. We praise you for that reality in all of our lives as followers of Jesus. We pray you’d help us to live in it with the security and assurance that we have in Jesus to know that we have eternal life today. And oh God, help us not to keep us to ourselves.

We pray that by the power of your Spirit in us, you would help us to share this verse, specifically this truth, the gospel with somebody today, this week. And God, we pray that you would bring someone through our lives this week, a friend, a family member, a classmate, a coworker, or somebody we didn’t even know we were going to meet, whether it’s in an Uber or Lyft or a restaurant or just anywhere we might find ourselves that you sovereignly ordained.

Prayer for the Talieng People

God, help us to boldly, compassionately, share the gospel, share the truth of 1 John 5:13 with somebody this week, and we pray that you would bring someone to eternal life through us. Oh God, we pray for the spread of this good news all over the world for the Talieng people of Laos, 39,000 of them, hardly any followers of Jesus, not even knowing who the son of God is. God, we pray for the spread of Jesus’ name and love among the Talieng people of Laos, that they might be reached and that they might know that they have eternal life. God, we pray all this according to your Word in 1 John 5:13, in Jesus’ name, amen.