This eternal life begins now. Jesus said, 'I have come that you may have life and have it to the full'.

We can only live life to the full when we understand:

• where we have come from,
• what we should be doing here and
• where we are going.

Jesus gives us this information with the unique authority that comes from God himself:

• we are created by God
• to love and serve him now and
• to enjoy our relationship with him forever.

We have all moved far outside God's plans for us. Jesus said the first and great commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and the second commandment is to love your neighbour as yourself, ie put yourself in your neighbour's place.

We have loved and served ourselves first, our neighbours second and God - if at all - last. Only when we are prepared to change our lifestyle from its me-centred values and ask God's forgiveness can we begin to reorganise our lives according to his values and priorities. Then the eternal life that Jesus talked about begins.

That great weight of guilt we carry around falls from our backs and our soiled consciences are washed clean. This complete forgiveness and acceptance by God is made possible by Jesus dying on the cross, paying to the full the penalty we deserve.

An inner peace and a new joy become our experience. Our lives become gripped with new meaning and purpose. A new capacity to love others grows as we realise they are not chance products of an empty universe but persons, made and loved by God and reflecting his likeness.

As a sportsman may try to style his game on his hero, so the Christian has a new model as he seeks to mould his life on the example of Jesus whom he loves, worships and serves.

All over the world, countless people have been transformed as they have pinned their hopes - not in a religion, a philosophy or an organisation
but in a person
the only person in the history of the world
who is ultimately worth trusting.