The Word of Life

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—" 1 John 1:1-2

Have you ever received news that was so good that you could feel excitement spread through your entire body? Maybe you were so happy that you wanted to jump up and down or do a somersault. It is especially easy to feel this kind of intense excitement if this good news affects not only the rest of your day or your week, but also your entire life into eternity!
This is the sort of news John describes in verses one and two—the best news of all time, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. “Gospel” is another word for “good news.”
Since the very beginning of the earth, when Adam and Eve first disobeyed God, all people after them have chosen to disobey God too. Another word for disobeying God is “sin.” Our sin separates us from God because He is so holy that He can’t be around sin. But God loved us so much that throughout the entire Old Testament, He promised to save us and make us holy like Him so that we could have a relationship with Him forever. So for many years, God’s people had to trust Him that this good news would become true, that God would someday take action to save them from their sin.
This good news finally came true through one man, Jesus Christ. God sent His Son, Jesus, to sacrifice Himself for us on the cross and then raised Him from the dead. This is how Jesus saved us! Jesus the person is the good news God promised to share with us all along so that we could be saved from sin and have life with Him for eternity! That is why verse one calls the gospel of Jesus Christ the “Word of Life.” Because if we have faith in the news that Jesus is the Son of God, this news is so powerful that we will receive life with God forever. Jesus is the Word of Life!

Questions for discussion and reflection
1. What is the gospel?
2. Does the gospel sound like good news to you?

Dear God, thank You so much for having a plan since the very beginning that could save us from our sins so that we can have eternal life instead of the death that we deserve. Thank You that this plan was Your perfect son Jesus who is the Word of Life Himself and who defeated death on the cross! God, we pray that You would continue to teach us about this good news every single day through a relationship with Jesus. Amen.