John 17:3 NASB95
This is eternal life that they may experience You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Eternal life is not first and foremost chronological, though it does last forever. Eternal life is the abundant life that is Jesus, which we will enjoy forever since the moment we were born again. Every Christian possesses eternal life (the abundant life of Christ), but sadly, every Christian doesn’t experience eternal life.
The word “disciple” simply means “learner,” but the idea is not being a learner in the sense of gaining more information. At our new birth, we were by the Holy Spirit birthed into the life of Jesus, and as a disciple, we are meant to continually learn how to experience more of Jesus, not just more about Jesus. Christianity is not like a 3D movie that is supposed to make you feel like you are part of what’s happening on the screen. We are placed into the life of Christ so that we actually do experience the life that Jesus lives on a daily basis. You may know a lot about Jesus, but do you truly EXPERIENCE Him? Do you sense and feel yourself actually and practically included in the experience of Jesus’s life being lived in and through you? Do you experience His experience? Are you daily swallowed up in His existence in His relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and His continued walk on this earth through your unique humanity? This is the normal Christian life! It is the gospel. As the Angels declared to the shepherds, “It is good news, other GREAT JOY… For today in the city of David, there has been born FOR YOU a Savior who is Christ the Lord.” Jesus came not just to pay for our sins but to save us from ourselves, and he did that by placing us into His very existence that we might experience Him as our very life.