John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

What is an abundant life?

Matthew 8:20

And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

It does not sound like Jesus lived a life of abundance, at least not in terms we might think. We are raised to take care of ourselves, get a career, make a home for ourselves and raise a family and have the resources to enrich our family life. We buy things of value and try our best to build a life that has a legacy of success that carries on for generations.

So how do we balance what we deem as the abundant life with what Jesus is offering us?

• Romans 12:2
  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
  
• 2 Corinthians 3:18
  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

According to Romans 12:2 we should take on a new mindset to think in different terms as to what is good or acceptable or perfect. To change that “or” to an “and” takes a whole new way of thinking.

2 Corinthians 3:18 implies if we stop hiding from God we may see His glory and notice just how much we are being changed from a world seeking person to a God seeking person.

If we want worldly things, we don’t want to be like Jesus. When Jesus said He is the way, the truth and the life, then having more of Jesus in our lives is a more abundant life.

Matthew 10:38

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

What keeps us from making sacrifices?

“There seems to be no good news in the news, just judgment absent of grace of faith and love.”

My last line from yesterday leads us to the option to look for the good mews.

Luke 4:18

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

Also 19 “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

I include verse 19 for one and only one purpose; to point out there is a limit to the amount of time left to us to preach the good news. We live in the church age and it will end someday and then it will be too late to take advantage of that free offer of grace and mercy to a lost and troubled world of sinners.

Some of us are decades into this new life in Christ. The longer we live here the more comfortable and secure we find ourselves. Once we feel secure we are free to focus on the will of God and serve Him as is fit for us according to the gifts and talents that are uniquely our own.

The further we are from that moment of rebirth the harder it is to remember what life was like without God. Our focus turns from what we did for ourselves to what God is doing for us and through us.

How can we relate to the lost if we have forgotten how it felt to live without God?

We have the Word of God to remind us of how man acts without God or if they worship false gods. If we look at the history of mankind we might see that the nature of fallen man has not changed. The world has changed and there have been unbelievable improvements in the quality of life. We do not have to look back 4,000 years to see how much easier life is now.

“Volume of knowledge is doubling every 12 hours, the doubling rate used to be 25 years in 1945. Speed with which technology is progressing is the driver which are upending our careers, transforming lives and disrupting economies.” Source Linkedin

This statement is a world view and  implies that vast gains in global knowledge does not improve our lives if it truly disrupts economies. There is a better way to measure personal security.

John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.