Life—Abundantly

Your soul wants more than safety. It was hardwired by God to crave life—abundant, overflowing, satisfying life.

Scripture Focus: John 10:10

Jesus says the thief—Satan, his demons, false teachers—comes with three verbs: steal, kill, and destroy. The shepherd of this worldly system is the devil. He promises to give satisfaction, but he only steals true peace. He promises to give life, but he only takes life. He promises to fulfill your soul, but he only makes it more hollow than ever before.

So unlike the Lord Jesus Christ—the giver and author of life. Not just any life. Abundant life.

That Greek word is perissos. It means over-the-top. It's as if the waves of God's goodness are constantly crashing down upon us. So much so that you barely have time to process one wave before another wave of His lavish goodness crashes down upon you.

This is over-the-top life.

And listen—this is not a future promise. This is a present reality.

When Jesus says He comes to give life abundantly, He's not primarily talking about the duration of your life in the then and there. He's talking about the quality of your life in the here and now.

You live in a fragmented and fractured world. It's restless. And Jesus says, "I've come to make you whole." The false shepherds didn't bind up, didn't restore, didn't fix, didn't heal. Jesus says, "I'm going to give you life with a capital L."

One of the largest deterrents to the gospel in our modern day is that there is nothing about the life of a Christian that makes the world envious of what we have. Not in the realm of material things—but there ought to be something mysterious about the joy, contentment, and peace that we have in Jesus Christ.

Over the home of every Christian and above the head of every Christ-follower, there ought to be a banner that says: "Eternal, Abundant Life Now. Come one, come all looking for life—come to Jesus."

The world believes that coming to Christ is like a prison—that "thou shalt not" is written across every pleasure and "thou shalt" is written across every misery. But the Christ-follower says, "No, no—this is not a prison. This is green pastures of God's lavish kindness and provision. It's His goodness day after day after day. You can have all this world—give me Jesus. This is life."

So how can you have this abundant life? If you're not in Christ, you need to repent and believe. Change your mind. Come to Him. The door is open.

If you're in Christ but finding yourself wanting in that abundance, here's the reality: You can't be satisfied by Christ if you do not abide in Him. That should be simple enough. You won't be satisfied in Jesus if you do not spend time with Jesus.

We come to God's Word not just to know a subject—that's the danger in a doctrinally rich church. We think knowledge is the end rather than the means to the end. We come to God's Word because we want to know the person. We want to know our Shepherd.

And here's something worth clarifying: Do not confuse abundant life with artificial life. The Christian life is not free from trouble. There are storms, drought, famine in this life. But in the hands of the Shepherd, it's the best life there is.

Has anyone ever looked at your life and recognized that they are breathing and existing, but they're not really living—because they recognize what you have is different?

Your soul is hungry. Come to the Bread. Your soul is thirsty. Come to the Water. You're lost. Come to the Shepherd.

Stay dialed in.