There are many gods in our world today. They range from stationary idols those we carry with us, from people we see on television to people we see daily. We may not openly admit that we consider them a god, but we unconsciously treat them that way.

            We put them on pedestals by putting up posters of them on our walls, placing trophies on the mantel, and caring more about the inanimate object than a person. We hold these people or things in higher regard than God. Our attitude toward them and the time we spend on them far outpaces how we interact and how often we spend time with God. We can deny it, but that is merely lying to ourselves.

            John tells us that our life is in Jesus. He is the source of all life (John 1:3). It is only by being in Him that we truly live. But too often, that is translated as accepting Him once and doing nothing with Him again. Living in Jesus is a relationship. We build our relationship, growing closer to Him by spending time in prayer, seeking to know Him more, seeking to follow His will, giving up our person preferences, and allowing Him to change us into the person we were meant to be.

            Can we live our lives without Him? Sure. But that life becomes meaningless. We have no positive impact on the world. We end up being forgotten after we are gone. We do not have a lasting legacy that carries on beyond our short time spent on this earth. Worse yet, we do not have eternal life spent with God.

            Think about those who had the biggest impact on a community. What was their motivation? Those who continue to have an impact long after they are gone are those who lived their lives in Jesus. They taught people how treat one another with love. They were the example for working hard because they were working for God in everything they did. They are the people who we remember and inspire us.

            God has given us eternal life. How will we respond? Our response should be to live our lives in Jesus. We should acknowledge that He is the reason we have life. We should seek to grow our relationship with Him. We should share the good news, and all that Jesus has done for us through our relationship with Him and Him working in our lives.

            This is not about accepting Jesus out of fear of the alternative. It is accepting Him because we have life in Him and eternal life because of Him. It is about responding to God with love because he first loved us. God is waiting patiently for us to fully give ourselves to him because he loves us.

1 John 5:11-12: And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.