ABIDING LIFE

“Prayer is not merely, as some say, “the breathing of the soul.” It is the imbibing of life itself. If we stop praying, life ebbs away. As long as we pray, our lives remain warm, ardent, and vigorous, for in prayer we meet God himself in Christ. In Christ is life…yes, in him alone. We experience this life only insofar as we search for him and love him, and only to the extent that we come to him and receive him in prayer. “Eating the flesh” and “drinking the blood” of the Son of Man actually takes place every time we meet him personally, so that he is in us and we are in him. Neither my prayer nor my conduct can bring life; what is crucial is that Christ is my life.“ Eberhard Arnold (1883-1935).

The apostle John opens his gospel by writing, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” In him was life and in him is life. As Arnold wrote, “neither my prayer nor my conduct can bring life, what is crucial is that Christ is my life.”

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. Jesus