A Faith that Includes Eternal Life (Titus 1:2-3)

Paul tells us that his ministry as an apostle is propelled by forward by “the hope of eternal life” (Titus 1:2).

Eternal life can seem like a distant religious concept. An idea that we know is true but seems out of reach, out of touch with the health issue or financial pressures or relational discord of everyday life in our fallen world. Sure, we believe in it and hope for it, but if we’re honest, it feels irrelevant most of the time.

For Paul this was not the case. He wanted Titus and the believers at Crete to know that this hope, a hope given to all who have faith in Christ (John 3:16), is from the “God who cannot lie” (Titus 1:2b). It is a hope promised before time began and manifested in history through the preaching of God’s Word (1:2-3). It is a hope that appears when a preacher opens his mouth and proclaims the gospel from the pulpit on a Sunday morning. It is a hope that shines out when a believer shares her faith with her coworkers over a lunch break. It is a hope that bursts new life and joy in the heart any person who comes to know Christ.

The hope of eternal life is eternally relevant for believers. It reorients what we put our hope in. Instead of hoping in success in the workplace, we hope in eternally enjoying and beholding God with God’s people. Instead of hoping in finances or health or reputation, we hope in knowing God and living in a sinless new Earth in restored resurrection bodies. Our life can fall apart today, our plans and schedules and timelines can be shattered, because we have the hope of eternal life.

May this hope of eternal life—a hope given to all who are Christians—seep into every crevice of our imagination and desires and affections and heart.