The Gospel of John ends with these words,
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.
John records several miracles or “signs” as he likes to call them in order to draw attention to the Messiahship of Jesus. There is much teaching, much discussion, and many activities that John wants us to know about. Now, however, this Gospel comes to and end.
Not only does the Gospel of John end here, but John, being the last of four Gospels, completes the inspired record of Christ’s life. Jesus did much more than all this. The world itself could not contain the books, let alone this limited collection that we have in the New Testament. He continues his work today, thereby adding more and more to the story as history marches on.
There is no need or opportunity for any of us to write our own Gospel. It would be silly if we did. There is much opportunity, though, for us to reflect upon what Christ has done. Consider the moment you first came to faith in Christ. List five or ten instances of answered prayer. Think about the fact that you know Christ and that he is the source of eternal life. As such, that life will go on forever, which means there will always be more to tell. There are those times, and for me they are many, when the main person we need to tell is ourselves.
If we pause to thank our Lord for giving us eternal life and the circumstances that led to it, we can more firmly establish our relationship with him. If we think back each day and thank him for answered prayer, we develop a posture of gratitude, which is sort of the opposite of greed. And if we consider that there are many more things to come, even more than we can imagine, we develop a hopeful outlook toward the future. All of these things together will help us as we face each new day.
