Fully Trusting “The Life,” Part 1

David W Palmer

(John 14:6 NKJV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

When Rosanna and I became full-on Christians, we were introduced to the Holy Spirit and Jesus’s call to evangelism. But to succeed in outreach, we needed not only the call and the Holy Spirit’s power; but also we needed his insight.

You see, my background as a youngster growing up in the Methodist church somehow led me to believe that to the “common people” Jesus was not attractive.

Once on a church outing, I smiled at a non-Christian, and he punched me. Then later when our rock band was playing at a hotel in Mackay, the street preacher yelling at the pub goers from across the road seemed extremely repulsive. So that experience reinforced my perception that Jesus wasn’t attractive to outsiders. So the stronghold in my mindset was that Jesus and his gospel would not be received well, even if presented in love.

Yet despite all of this, Rosanna and I were determined to preach the gospel to our friends and family, and with our music—even in pubs; we wanted to share Jesus. We felt his call so strongly that we were committed to evangelism even if it meant being rejected, and having people finding our presentation repulsive. I just knew that we had to reach out to people with the gospel.

Thankfully, the faithful Holy Spirit began to lead me on a journey of discovery. This began with verses like these:

(Mark 12:37 NKJV) … And the common people heard Him gladly.

(Matthew 8:1 NKJV) … great multitudes followed Him.

(Matthew 15:30 NKJV) Then great multitudes came to Him …

When I read these and other similar passages, I saw that ordinary people loved and flocked to Jesus. (Of course, the religious leaders and Pharisees jealously wanted to kill him.) I began to realize that Jesus was attractive to ordinary people, not repulsive. Then, in the book of Acts I read:

(Acts 2:6, 41 NKJV) And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together ... {41} Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.

Here, I saw that preaching Jesus was very attractive to ordinary people. My mind began to be renewed, and I was captured by the vision to see scenes like this again; this is what I wanted to have happen when I preached the gospel. Then I remembered that Jesus said:

(John 12:32 NKJV) “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

I concluded that if we lifted Jesus—even including the revulsion of his crucifixion—he would draw people. But how do we lift Jesus? That’s when the wonderfully faithful Holy Spirit reminded me of John 14:6, where Jesus said that he is “the way, the truth, and the life.” Suddenly I saw it; if we could lift Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, he would attract people, not repulse them. Again the question came: “But how do we do that?”

To lift Jesus as “the way,” we must preach his gospel—including his death, burial, and resurrection; and we must clearly demonstrate that he is resurrected—showing that his way works, and that he can get us to heaven. To lift Jesus as “the truth,” we must preach the word in love—beginning with his gospel message. And thirdly, we must lift Jesus as “the life.”

Again, the Holy Spirit helped me; if we do everything we do with the true life that only Jesus gives, we will not only be telling people about him, but also, we will be portraying who he is. Then the common people will be attracted to his love, his truth, his way, and his life.

This led me to ask one final question: “How do we live our lives, and present our gospel presentations full of the true life—the kind that can only come from, and that truly displays, Jesus? I knew that this couldn’t simply be by a caffeine high, a great mood, or natural personality. This could only be authentic if the “life” came from Jesus. Again, the wonderful Holy Spirit helped me; he showed me the following thread in scripture:

(Revelation 22:1 NKJV) And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

The “water” mentioned so often by Jesus and others, originates with this river of “life” that emanates and flows from God. This “life” is an indescribable bubbling, an overflowing sense of being alive, loved, and full of joy; it gives a zest for living along with enthusiasm, light in the eyes, and a fire in the belly.

In Scripture, this “water of life” is like an underground stream that appears as wells, rivers, and fountains all along the timeline of God’s word:

(Genesis 2:9 NKJV) And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden …

To me, it seemed that in Eden, the tree of life was watered by this invisible stream of the water of life. Then in Isaiah, it was tapped via a well that was accessible only with joy:

(Isaiah 12:3 NKJV) Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation.

Ezekiel had it as a huge river, one too deep to walk in. (See: Eze. 37); Psalm 1 says it’s essential for a blessed life, and in Eden, the river watered the garden.

Jesus mentioned the water of life, but he said it was accessible fully and permanently only from him:

(John 4:14 NKJV) “But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

(John 7:37–38 NKJV) … “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. {38} He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

Today, I encourage you to adopt our resolution to only present Jesus when we can do it overflowing with genuine, supernatural life that comes exclusively from him. His invitation is to come, to sit at his feet, and to drink in his “life.” Soon it will start to bubble up with exuberant joy, and overflow in “rivers” to the people around you. His life is irrepressible and irresistible, but it simply cannot be counterfeited by any stimulant, joke, or social interaction. It can only be found in the One who said:

(John 11:25 NKJV) … “I am the resurrection and the life.”

(John 14:6 NKJV) … “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Let’s sit at Jesus’s feet today, and drink the water of life till it bubbles up and overflows. Then, as we speak the word in love, and as we testify to his gospel, we will truly be lifting Jesus; he will draw the multitudes, and the “common people” will again hear him gladly.