“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:11, 12.

Do you have the Son? Do you know what it means to have the Son? The apostle John indicates here that having the Son, or not having the Son, is the factor that determines whether we have life eternal. But what does “having the Son” mean?

Sometimes the words and phrases we use in describing and defining the Christian life are confusing. When I was a teenager, I found it very frustrating to constantly hear all of the catch phrases of Christianity without knowing what they meant.

What does it mean to “have the Son”? What does it mean to “fall on the Rock”? How do you “behold the Lamb”? How do you “reach out your hand and take His”? We use a lot of these kinds of expressions, don’t we? The Bible uses them. The inspired writings to our church use them.

Early in my ministry I was so frustrated with trying to act like a Christian and talk like a Christian and preach like a Christian, when in fact I wasn’t a Christian, that I was just about ready to give up the whole business. But one day I decided to make one more attempt. I took the book Steps to Christ and read through it, underlining everything it told me to do. And when I finished, I had underlined practically the whole book. Not only that, but much of what I had underlined was these intangible phrases.

I was on my way to throw the book in the fire, when something stopped me. Because even though I was farther than ever from the answers I had been looking for, something had happened inside that I could not explain, but could not deny.

So I decided to do one thing more: I would go back through the book and underline twice everything it told me to do that I already knew how to do.

And that was how I began to understand the basics in living the Christian life. I underlined three things-read your Bible, pray, and tell someone else what you got out of the first two.

Whenever you come across an intangible phrase, either in the Bible or in what we call the spirit of prophecy, if you look a little closer, you’ll discover that it’s talking about one of these three tangibles that make all of the intangibles tangible!

With that in mind, let’s look again at 1 John 5:11, 12.

“He that hath the Son hath life.”

Why, we use those same words in our everyday language!

We say, “I have a friend.” “I have a wife.” “She has a husband.” What are we talking about? We’re describing a relationship with that person.

If we have the Son, we have a relationship with the Son of God. We are talking about spending time in communication with Him. We speak to Him in prayer. We listen to Him speak to us in His Word. We work with Him in service and outreach to others.

So if the basis of eternal life is to “have the Son,” then the basis of eternal life is to have a relationship with Jesus, to know what it means to spend time in fellowship and communion with Him day by day.

Our assurance of salvation is not based on church membership. It is not based on doctrinal purity. It is not based on behavior. It is based on an ongoing relationship with a Person.

“Those who will keep the eye fixed upon the life of the Lord Jesus will gain an abundant entrance into His spiritual temple.” - Ellen G. White Comments, S.D.A. Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1086.

“No renewed heart can be kept in a condition of sweetness without the daily application of the salt of the word. Divine grace must be received daily, or no man will stay converted.” - Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, September 14, 1897.

As you come to Jesus day by day, accepting anew of His grace and seeking to know Him better and trust Him more, you can have the assurance of eternal life.