If you could envision your happiest life, what would it be? How we answer this question depends on so many different factors: our temperaments, our values (those we grew up with and those we picked up along the way), what stage of life we’re at, the size of our paychecks, and so on. We desire so much to be happy. And often it can feel like we are never happy enough.
But we have a heavenly Father who loves us more than we love ourselves. He cares for our happiness more than we even do. And He has shown us, through His Son, what the happiest life is. It is not one where everything goes our way. It is one that is lived in the full and continual awareness of His presence and unfailing goodness.
The best part is, this life has been given to us by Jesus.
On the night He was betrayed, Jesus prayed for all His people, those disciples who were with Him and those still to come—namely, you and me. In His High Priestly Prayer (Jn. 17), Jesus speaks to His heavenly Father for us. He prays that God would keep us in His Name (17:11), unify us (17:21), and let us see His glory (17:24). And since it is Jesus who prays—and He prays according to His Father’s will—we are assured that the Father will grant Him what He asked. This means that the High Priestly Prayer is no mere list of petitions. It is a treasure chest of promises for us to cling to.
And one of those promises is tucked away in 17:3. Having said that the Father has given Him authority “to give eternal life” (v. 2), Jesus tells us what eternal life—the happiest life—is: “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” What does it mean to know God? To know God is not simply to know facts about Him.
It is have “the only true God” as our God. It is to have God as Every Ultimate Good and Wonderful Thing to us—not just to some faceless group of people out there, but to you and me in particular.
This is the life that Jesus won for you. When Jesus gives you eternal life, He reconciles you to His heavenly Father and to Himself. He reconnects you to God, restoring you to good standing with Him, causing you to live in the unending day of His eternal love.
And since it is Jesus who gives eternal life, it should be obvious that we are not the ones acquiring it for ourselves. Jesus gives us eternal life because the Father gave Him authority to do so (v. 2). He chose us. We did not choose Him (Jn. 15:16). And that is why we believe in Him.