Abundant Life!
Sounds pretty amazing, does it not?! Jesus lays it out for us in the following verse…
John 10:10
10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
He says His purpose is Life! Purpose is defined as …. 1. the reason for which something exists or is done, made, used, etc
Jesus exists, thus Life is! Or another way to look at it… Life happens because Jesus Is.
Lets look at the following verses in light of this bold claim by Jesus …
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6
Colossians 1:6
for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see–such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
Romans 11:36
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Acts 17:28
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
John 15:5
5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
No matter where we are on the road called life, Jesus’ offer is for any and all.
John 7:37-38
37 It was the last and most important day of the Feast. Jesus stood up and spoke in a loud voice. He said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Does anyone believe in me? Then, just as Scripture says, streams of living water will flow from inside him.”
Streams Of Living Water!!
Sounds Abundant! Imagine a natural spring flowing. You don’t know where it comes from but it is amazing. The water is so clear, pure and refreshing It just bubbles up and shows no signs of an end or a beginning- it appears to be eternal. That’s what Jesus is talking about… What He is offering! LIFE…… But there is a catch. It comes with a price.
Matthew 16:25
“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” – Jesus
I close with this excerpt from Beautiful Outlaw on life… Here’s to life – Jonathan
Life
The word I choose to describe Jesus is life. Pure, lush, exuberant Life. Life that proves to be unquenchable, unstoppable, indestructible. As John summarized the whole affair, “In him was life, and that light was the light of men” (1:4). It sure was.
Nature is bursting with life—even after all these years of war. Now, what would happen if this sort of life expressed itself in a man? Exactly. It did.
When Jesus fed the five thousand, the tally counted only men. So the crowd was probably more like ten thousand including women and children. From fives loaves and two (small) fish. With leftovers. He doesn’t even say anything in Cana after, “Fill the jars.” The 180 gallons of wine are suddenly just . . . there. With a shout he raises Lazarus from the dead. One word best describes what is going on here: life. Jesus really is the Lord of Life.
Now for a wonder of wonders—not only do you get Jesus, you get to live his life. Really. Everything you’ve seen here, everything you’ve read about, this life is yours for the asking. That is what Jesus believed. That was his understanding of our desperation and his mission.
(Beautiful Outlaw, 225, 226)
