John 3 is good

John 3:1-21
2 verses really jumped out at me while studying this passage. v.15 and v. 21. each for completely different reasons, so i figured i'd make it a double today.
v.15 says this, " ...that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." and the foot note says "Or believes may have eternal life in him." Eternal life...in him. what is your imediate thought when you hear eternal life? heaven right? like future, post death, after you kick the bucket, however you want to look at it, we normally don't see eternal life as something that we are in the midst of, but it SO IS! hmm. what does that mean? what does that look like? in my mind it looks like living life with what i like to call a "Kingdom" perspective. Living life with the beauty of the Kingdom of God on the front of our minds. Kingdom of God, much like Eternal life in my mind's eye is not only something that is for future! how can we live eternal life now? if i had that question figured out i'd probably be making more money than i do right now. but i think simply living for nothing other than Jesus. the problem is that as easy as it is to type it, living on that, against years of selfish habits and patterns is really stinkin hard. i guess that's why it MUST be done in the power of the Holy Spirit right? I truly believe that God wants us to grow in Him and if we ask for the tools to do that, i know He will not withhold that from us. so ask him. what does eternal life RIGHT NOW look like?
the second one was v 21 ""But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." So often we still want to live in the dark don't we? we have secrets we never tell people, we have things that deep down we are too afraid to share becuase of what we think other people will say, think, or even do. have you ever been in a conversation where someone really opens up and shares some struggles and is just completely honest? bringing things to the light that they may not have shared before with anyone? its quite profound, almost always, you're judgment of the person doesn't change, dispite the secret. in fact often we respect that person even more for sharing what they are struggling with for talking about it. i'm not saying to go spew your guts to anyone who says "hi how are you today?" but i am saying that we were built for community, we were built to live life together and i think, no i know, that we MUST have people in our lives where we get things into the light. leaving things quiet often lead to satan using them to kill you slowly from the inside out! by sitting on sins, hurts, anxieties, and other things, we just let them stew and fester until we finally cannot stand it any more, wouldn't it be so much better to just say it out loud when it happens? when the thought first enters your head, to identify it and bring it to light? where there is light, even a little bit, there can be no darkness. by living in truth, claiming it, living it, we allow God to be the center, the one who works in us. our openess, not fakeness, is what people would see and admire. then maybe people will quit thinking that Christians are perfect. but see us as we are, fallen human beings doing our best to follow the guidelines that God set up for our own good and for His own Glory.