What Are You Using the Life You've Been Given For?

Introduction

God gives you eternal life in Jesus Christ. This eternal life is not just an existence without end: it's entering into a relationship of deep love with the Father. And if you believe in Jesus, this life has already been given to you. The question John 12 then raises becomes urgent: what are you using the life you've been given for today?

This chapter takes us to Bethany, then to Jerusalem, all the way to Jesus's last public words before the cross. At every step, people react differently to Christ. Some pour out everything they have at his feet. Others calculate. Others refuse to believe so they won't lose their standing. And you?

Looking honestly at your situation can be painful. Seeing what you can't manage, what you don't yet understand, isn't comfortable. But it's a blessing. Because God loves precisely the "you" who can't manage it, and he has the power to make you able. That's where faith is born.

The outline of John 12

1. At Bethany: three ways of serving Jesus (vv. 1-11)

Six days before the Passover, Jesus comes to Bethany, to the home of Lazarus, whom he had just raised from the dead. A dinner is prepared. Three people show up, and each serves Jesus in their own way.

Martha serves at the table. Lazarus sits with Jesus. Mary takes a pound of very costly pure nard (worth about a year's wages), and pours it on Jesus's feet. The house is filled with the fragrance.

None of these three is more spiritual than the others. Each uses what has been given to them to express their gratitude to Christ. Martha serves with her hands. Lazarus chooses simply to be with Jesus. Mary gives what she has that is most precious, without hesitation, because she has understood who Jesus is.

Mary doesn't calculate. She doesn't think "this is too much," "I should keep a little back," "I really ought to..." That's what serving Christ is: not a heavy duty, but a gratitude that overflows. When you find that serving has become a burden, an obligation, an irritation, it's no longer gratitude, it's a sense of duty. And that reveals that you haven't yet grasped what Christ has done for you.

Judas protests. "Why wasn't this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" John points out: Judas didn't care about the poor. He kept the money bag and used to help himself to what was put into it. His heart had a crack in it (attachment to money), and the devil slipped right through it. An unaddressed, habitual sin opens a door the enemy eventually uses.

Jesus defends Mary: "Leave her alone. She has kept this for the day of my burial." What you offer to Christ, even if others find it useless, trivial, excessive, God receives with joy. He never says, "Is that all?"

2. Entry into Jerusalem: Jesus presents himself as Messiah (vv. 12-19)

The next day, the crowd takes palm branches and goes out to meet Jesus. The people cry out: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" This fulfills Psalm 118:25-26, Zechariah 9:9 (the humble king riding on a colt), and the prophetic timetable of Daniel 9:25-26.

Why does the crowd come? Because others are testifying to what they've seen. Lazarus has been raised. People tell the story. And the curious flock to see this man, dead four days, who now eats beside Jesus. Simply by eating a meal, right where he is, Lazarus becomes a witness.

Testifying about Christ isn't laying out a complex theology. It's not mastering Greek or Hebrew. It's telling what Jesus has done for you. "He loved me like this. He received me like that. He changed me in this way." Your testimony is your own life.

3. The grain of wheat that dies (vv. 20-26)

Some Greeks want to see Jesus. They go through Philip, then Andrew. Jesus answers: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." His glory is the cross, the resurrection, the return to the Father.

"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." Jesus must die for your forgiveness to be possible. Without his death, no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, no new life by the Spirit.

Then comes a sharp statement: "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Jesus isn't asking you to despise the life he gave you. He's asking you not to spend it only on this world. If you use your life only to gain what this world offers, you'll miss out on true life. If you use it to know God and serve Christ, it will lead you to eternal life.

Serving Christ means following him wherever he is. And he is in heaven. So your heart must be turned toward heaven, not simply absorbed by earthly urgencies.

4. Troubled and praying (vv. 27-33)

"Now is my soul troubled." Jesus did not approach the cross with a cold heart. At Gethsemane, he will pray: "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me." He knows what it is to be troubled. And when your soul is troubled, follow his example.

He does three things. First, he prays. He turns his heart toward the Father. Prayer doesn't always change the situation, but it changes your attitude and gives you the strength to get through it. Next, he thinks it through seriously: he ponders the Father's love and the purpose entrusted to him. Finally, he decides to trust: "Father, glorify your name." A voice from heaven answers: "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." That voice, Jesus says, was not for him, but for the crowd.

5. Walking in the light while it's still there (vv. 34-43)

The crowd cannot make sense of a Messiah who suffers. They're expecting a king of power. They stumble over the very one who could have forgiven them. You too can stumble, if you reduce Jesus to a tool meant to answer your wants: "Fine, I know about that, my sin isn't a big deal, but can you give me this?" Jesus is not a servant. He is your Savior.

Your real problem isn't material need, or sickness, or your circumstances. Your real problem is the sin that cuts you off from God. And that is exactly what Jesus came to deal with, at the cost of his own life.

"Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you." There comes a moment when someone who stubbornly refuses Christ finds their heart hardening. God respects your will. If you say "I don't want to see," he will eventually let you not see. Hence the urgency of believing while there is still light.

Many Jewish leaders believed in Jesus, but did not dare confess it because of the Pharisees: they preferred the glory of men to the glory of God. You can't hide your faith forever. Two things happen: either it withers and disappears, or, if it's real, it eventually comes out into the open. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two members of the Sanhedrin, would no longer be able to stay silent at the foot of the cross.

6. Jesus's public last will (vv. 44-50)

Jesus cries out one last time: "Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me." He did not come to condemn, but to save. It is not Jesus who judges: it is his words, if you reject them, that will judge you on the last day.

"The Father's commandment is eternal life." And John 17:3 makes it precise: eternal life is knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. That is what your life is for.

Key takeaways

• Eternal life is not a duration, it's a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
• Serving Christ isn't a performance, it's an overflowing gratitude that refuses to calculate.
• A tolerated, habitual sin becomes a crack the enemy slips through. Don't let it settle in.
• Your testimony is what Christ has done in your life, told simply.
• When your soul is troubled: pray, reflect on God's love and purpose, then decide to trust him.
• The real problem of your life is sin. And Jesus came precisely for that.

Personal application

• Today, what are you actually using your life, your time, your money, your energy for? Does God show up anywhere in that budget?
• What "precious perfume" are you jealously guarding, when Christ deserves to be offered it without calculation?
• Is there a habitual sin in your life that you've been tolerating for too long? Will you name it before God today?
• Can you tell, in one simple sentence, what Jesus has changed in your life? If not, ask the Spirit to remind you.
• Is there someone in front of whom you hide your faith for fear of losing something? What would you do if you feared the glory of God more than the glory of men?

Verses cited

• John 12 (LSG) · the whole chapter
• John 17:3 · "This is eternal life, that they know you"
• Psalm 118:25-26 · welcoming the Messiah
• Zechariah 9:9 · the king riding on a colt
• Daniel 9:25-26 · the timetable of the Messiah
• 1 John 2:6 · walking as he walked
• Colossians 2:14-15 · the record of debt nailed to the cross
• Isaiah 53 · the suffering Messiah

FAQ

What does it actually mean to "use your life for God"?

It doesn't mean quitting your job, leaving your family, or dropping your responsibilities. It means orienting your heart, your time, and your decisions toward knowing God better and making him known around you. Everyday life (work, relationships, health) still matters, but it's no longer the ultimate goal: Christ is.

Why does Jesus say we should "hate our life" in this world?

This isn't a call to despise the life God gave you. It's a call not to spend it only on yourself or on what this world offers. Loving your life to the point of making it your idol is, in the end, losing it. Giving it to Christ is finding it again in eternity.

How should I respond when my soul is troubled by a trial?

Do what Jesus did before the cross. First, pray without holding back, expressing everything you feel. Then, reflect on God's love and the purpose he's entrusting to you, in light of Scripture. Finally, decide to trust him and use this trial for eternity, not just to survive it.