Yes, there really is a difference between merely “existing” and actually “living.” All of us born on planet earth not only “exists,” but we are also considered to be “living,” breathing human beings. But it was Jesus Himself who drew the distinction between “existing” and “living.”
You see, everyone is born with “bios” (the Greek word that points toward physical life), but not everyone possesses “zoe” (the Greek word used for spiritual life). At the very beginning of John’s Gospel, John writes that Jesus possessed “zoe” in His very being (Jn. 1:4). Jesus told the Samaritan woman whom He met at the well that He could give her the “living (zoe) water” that would quench her thirsty soul (Jn. 4:10). He later told His disciples that He is, “the bread of life,”(Jn. 6:48), that is, the One who is able to provide constant nourishment for their souls.
Later in the same Gospel, Jesus said that He came to give us “life” (zoe), and that the quality of this “life” would be “abundant” (Jn. 10:10). Jesus also said that the Father loved the world so much that He sent His Son to provide “eternal life” (zoe) to all who believed in Him (Jn. 3:16). And so, Jesus clearly spoke of Himself as the only One who could give “life,” and that “life” that only He can give is both “abundant” as well as “eternal.”
Standing at the tomb of Lazarus before He raised Him from the dead, Jesus told the onlookers that He was the “resurrection and the life” (zoe), that is, He is the One who possess real “life” (Jn. 11:25). And later, Jesus said that He is “…the way, the truth, and the life,” and that no one can come to the Father except through Him (Jn. 14:6). In other words, Jesus is the only “way” to the Father; He is the embodiment of spiritual “truth;” and that He is the possessor and giver of “life.”
Finally, as John wraps up his gospel by saying,
“…all these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (Jn. 20:31).
John wrote his gospel so that you and I might believe that Jesus is the Christ (the long-awaited Messiah) as well as the Son of God. But then he added that if we believe in Him, we may have “life” in His name.
There is “life” only in the name of Jesus. No other religious or secular leader can give anyone “life” simply because only a person who possesses “life” in Himself, as Jesus does, can give His “life” to others.
From Existing to LivingMaybe it’s time for you to cease “existing” and to start “living.” Jesus can give you spiritual “life” (zoe). He gives you the very “life” that He possesses, and He gives it as a gift. So, if you don’t yet have it, what are you waiting for? Just go ahead and ask.
