That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we
proclaim concerning the Word of life. 1 John 1:1
Anyone who loves their life* will lose it, while anyone who hates their life* in this world will keep it for eternal life** John 12:25
* Psuche
** Zoe
First John 1:1-4 is about eternal life. John and the apostles were eye witnesses and testified Jesus is the Messenger of eternal life and Jesus is Eternal Life. (John 12:25)
In John 12:25, two different Greek words are used for life. Psuche is the day-to-day, up and down life everyone lives from birth to death. Zoe aion is life eternal. Joy in life does not come from the pursuit of psuche life. Joy in this life is the by-product of pursuing zoe aion, of pursuing Jesus. Zoe aion begins when you embrace it while living your psuche life.
Choose zoe-life over psuche-life.
[Our lives are full of
day to day concerns: Going to work; raising
kids; Taking care of relationships; Houses. Cars; paying bills; dealing with
injuries, sickness, and problems of all sorts.] These are our psuche lives. We can attempt to
protect them and preserve them and defend them at all costs. In so doing we
will surely become anxious, fearful, selfish, and eventually even willing to
hurt others. To such an extent that all the joy will be drained of our psuche
lives.
Or, we can reorient our focus on the zoe life Jesus reveals to us,
trusting Jesus that if we seek first his kingdom (which is just another way of
speaking of eternal zoe), all of these psuche life things will cared for by God
himself.
So work is no longer a matter of “how can I make the most
money and get ahead the furthest and make my life better” but rather “how can I
do this work in a way that pleases the God who will reward me with more zoe
than I can possibly imagine.”
Raising kids is no longer a matter of “how can I
give my kids the best possible psuche life and/or at the same time maximize my
experience of psuche life while raising them” but rather “how can I help my
kids know and experience zoe life while I trust God to provide for their psuche
life.”
Taking care of relationships is no longer a matter of “how can make sure
I am making everyone around me happy” but rather “how can I go to Jesus for
living water so that I have a stream of living water welling up to eternal zoe
in me for others to drink from.”
Or perhaps it’s no longer a matter of “how can
I protect myself from harm in this relationship or that relationship” but
rather “how can I repent or forgive or offer favor to repair damage that’s been
done, knowing it might cost me psuche life, but gain me zoe life.” And on and
on.
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