Truly Alive?

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

The Greek language had two words for our word “life”: bios and zoe.

• bios – means life in the sense that something is alive vs something that which is dead. It means breathing, existing. This is where we get the word “biology” the study of living things.
• zoe – means life as it was meant to be lived. Zoe life refers to the life that we all dream of living, a life that is truly life.

The word in our text is zoe. Jesus says that he came so that we can live the life that we were created to live. That life is found in Jesus, and Jesus alone. A person can be breathing and going through the motions of life and yet have no life in them. We’ve all experienced that at one point or another in our lives. We live without purpose, passion, or direction. We merely exist. Such living is dreadful.

That’s not what Jesus died on the cross for us. Jesus wants his followers to live…to truly live.

So, here is the million dollar question: How do you know you are living zoe life?

You are living the zoe life if you can answer these in the affirmative:

• Am I more encouraged these days?
• Am I more at peace these days?

You are moving away from zoe life if you can these questions in the affirmative:

• Am I growing more discouraged these days?
• Am I growing more irritated these days?

These are not exhaustive, but how we answer these questions will give us a clue as to whether we are living the life Christ meant for us to live.

So, which life are you living?