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My name is Lisa, and I’m an Alabama fan.
(Side note: Please spare me the ridicule, jokes and trash talk. I’m trying to make this a thought-provoking message here.)
Some days I feel like a rare breed, considering that I have about 6 friends who are Alabama fans, compared to roughly 768 friends who are Auburn fans. I’ve had more than one Auburn die-hard try to talk me into abandoning my loyalty to the Tide and switching to their side. (Sorry, ain’t gonna happen.)
Yesterday was the first Saturday all season that I was able to fully relax and no that there was no way that Alabama was going to lose. That’s because they had an off day yesterday. In the middle of an injury-plagued, heart-wrenching season, yesterday was a very welcome respite.
And while there was no chance of posting a loss, and only a very slim (although still possible) chance that one of the players would be injured, there was also no chance of winning yesterday. No “W” to add to the schedule. No victory dances in my living room.
To play is to risk getting hurt, to risk losing the game. But what good is a team that never plays a game?
Likewise, what good are we as Christians if we never get out of the stands and onto the field? If we want to stay neat and clean and unbloodied, then the sidelines are a pretty safe place to be. But did Jesus ever call us to a life of safety?
And for those of us who dare to venture onto the field, at the first sign of trouble or trial, do we head for the hills?
Yesterday I wondered, if my team knew with absolute certainty that they would win the next game they played, how differently would they play? With little effort, taking every precaution to keep from piling up more injuries? Or would they play with abandon, play with the confidence that comes from knowing that victory is a guarantee?
Don’t we make those same choices about how we act in our Christian lives? Victory is certain; Jesus’ death and resurrection sealed the deal for us. Yet so often I don't live like it. I agonize over every "play" of my life, overthink and overanalyze every situation, forgetting that God has given us the victory.
This battle we’re in is not some mere football game, with bragging rights and perhaps a shiny trophy at stake. And unlike a football team, we can’t schedule a weekend off. There’s no off-season. We’re in an all-out, day in, day out battle for God’s kingdom.
In I Corinthians 5:56-58, Paul says, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
Knowing the outcome of the battle does not negate my need to be in it; on the contrary, I should fight even harder, because I am assured that nothing that I do in my Christian life goes to waste. Every mistake I make can be used by God for good (Rom. 8:28).
Ask yourself, in what areas of my life am I not giving all I can? Remember that the battle is the Lord’s, and the victory has been won. We’re guaranteed the most incredible outcome. Let’s start living like we know that to be true.
I live by my to-do lists. Part of it is for a practical reason—I have a faulty short-term memory. I could probably recite lines verbatim from my first high school play, but I’d have a hard time remembering who I needed to call today if I didn’t write it down.
But another reason I love my to-do lists is the satisfaction of scratching out each job as it is completed. I find an immense amount of satisfaction in taking a black pen and marking through my latest accomplishment, each line a badge of honor. The greatest feeling is wadding up my list and tossing it in the trash can when I’ve completed every task on the list. Euphoria!
Today was one of those days when I had a healthy to-do list awaiting me at the office, but I ended up spening all morning putting out fires and tackling surprise assignments. By the time lunch rolled around, I had not done any of the work I had planned to do this morning. The afternoon wasn’t much better, no items scratched off my list.
Ever have days like that, days where you feel like you got nothing of significance accomplished? The older and somewhat wiser I get, the more I realize that while I’m making plans for my day, God is often cooking up something different for me.
“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Proverbs 16:9
Tonight as I was driving home from church, the low fuel light came on in my car. I’d noticed the gas tank was low but had put off refilling my tank until tomorrow. When the light came on I figured I’d rather not push my luck, so I pulled into the nearest gas station. I was tired, I wanted to go home, but I knew I should stop and thought it would only take a minute. I'd pump, pay, and be on my way. What a tidy little assignment! Or so I thought.
After I paid for my gas and exited the mini-mart, I ran into an acquaintance who happened to work at the gas station. I asked how she was doing, expecting the standard “Fine, how are you?”, the usual 10-second niceties most people exchange. This was not what God had in mind. This girl opened up about her long work hours, financial problems, marital problems, family problems, you name it.
After a few minutes of her pouring out her heart and my feeble attempts at comforting her and promising to pray for her, she went back to work and I got into my car and headed home. I immediately began praying for her and her family, and said a prayer of thanksgiving for God using me in that situation. Nearly running out of gas, at this hour, in this place, seemed like a minor inconvenience at first. After the conversation with this girl, there is no doubt in my mind that God orchestrated this meeting between us tonight.
Maybe the significant accomplishment I was meant to tackle today was not creating layouts at my computer at 10 a.m., but ministering to a troubled girl in a gas station parking lot at 8:40 p.m. Whether or not I meet my publication deadlines this week will not really matter in the long run. What truly matters is my yielding to God's plans for me and following His own to-do list for my life, to see interruptions in my day not as intrusions or distractions, but rather as opportunities to live by His agenda.
I tried my generosity experiment yesterday (see earlier article), thought I'd share some results.
7:30 a.m.--Received e-mail from a friend asking for prayers. Now, this is a friend who nowadays only e-mails when she needs something and who never responds to my own e-mails, so my tendency is to not respond to hers. However, in keeping with my experiment, I sent her a quick e-mail telling her I was praying for her.
8:15--I let someone cut in front of me in traffic. Still made it to work with plenty of time to spare, and got a great parking space.
9:15--Encouraged someone who I knew was marking a milestone in their job.
12:00--Was invited to a co-worker's house for lunch.
1:20--Received an e-mail from one of my closest friends giving me some much-needed encouragement.
2:20--Even though I was very busy, I made time for an impromptu meeting with another staff member who needed my help with a project she was working on. As it turned out, meeting with her got me out of another meeting that I did not want to go to.
There are probably some more examples that I'm not remembering, but those stand out to me. Time after time, God "repaid" my generosity in unexpected ways. I'm going to try to keep being aware of the need for generosity and how God returns it. If you try this experiment, share your results with me--I love to see and hear evidence of God at work.
Last year I joined the Columbia House DVD club--you know, one of those deals where you get 6 videos for a penny and in exchange you buy 3 more over the next 3 years. Seemed like a good deal at the time.
Last week, I received an e-mail from Columbia House announcing their new selection of "mature" DVDs--in other words, porn. I was really pretty fired up about it and promptly wrote letters to the CEO and to the President of Columbia House expressing my anger over the addition of porn to their collection of DVDs and requesting that my membership be cancelled immediately. Now, I had not yet fulfilled my obligation to buy more DVDs, so I really had no legal grounds to terminate my membership. But I felt like this was something I needed to take a chance on.
After I mailed the letters, one of my friends, also a member of the Columbia House club, made a comment that she felt somewhat hypocritical to voice complaints about CH selling porn, but not objecting when they sell movies that feature graphic violence or bad language. That really made me think--how many times have I compromised my values, allowed myself to watch or listen to something that pushed the envelope of morality but didn't quite cross my imaginary line? Was it wrong for me to even join a movie club that I knew sold violent movies, for instance, as long as I didn't buy them? How far do we go in fighting the good fight, standing up for what we know is right? Some things get so murky; it's easy to take a stand against what we know is overtly wrong, but what about those gray areas?
Good news to report: today I received a letter from Columbia House granting my request to cancel my membership and waive any obligations I had to purchase more DVDs. I was excited to hear that, especially to get that kind of response so soon. But does it change anything? Did my letter touch the hearts of anyone who read it, made anyone think that maybe they shouldn't peddle porn? Should I ask everyone I know to send letters of protest to Columbia House--and if they did, would it even make a dent?
Lots to think about...
What if, for one solid day, we were truly generous? Not just generous with our money, but with our time, our encouragement, our patience as well? What if we took one day and gave every time someone asked for something?
Proverbs 11:24-25 read: "One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."
I think these verses are about more than just giving money or material possessions, although we are called upon to share those as well. God promises to refresh us--our generosity does not go unnoticed nor unrewarded. Sometimes we'll be refreshed by those who we give to; other times, that refreshing may come from another person or directly from God. But the refreshing will come.
I propose that we all take at least one day and make it an experiment in generosity. Take every opportunity you can throughout the day to be generous. Let people cut in front of you in traffic or in the grocery store line. Be generous in encouraging someone, especially someone who rarely or never encourages you in return. Help a co-worker even when you have a pile of work on your own desk.
Most importantly, throughout this experiment, look to God to supply the return. If you keep a ledger of how many times you give throughout the day how many times that you are on the receiving end, I'm willing to bet that God's generosity to you comes out ahead.
Let me know how the experiment goes, and I'll do the same...
Sundays can be lonely, miserable days. Not that I don’t feel lonely other days of the week from time to time, but somehow, sitting in a church building, surrounded by hundreds of people, the loneliness seems amplified. Today was a lonely day.
It’s not just loneliness for a man in my life; I feel a loneliness in the midst of my friendships right now as well. It’s been a tough year for friendships. Two once-solid, long-term friendships ended this year. Two other friends moved away. And right now I feel some distance between other friends. I’m not sure why; I’m still trying to put my finger on the cause of that.
The loneliness does not constantly hang over me, like a rain cloud above Charlie Brown’s head. It comes and goes. It seems to rear its ugly head most on Sundays, which is very ironic. The place where I should most feel like I belong—my church—can sometimes become a place where I feel lonely the most.
This morning during the service, we sang “My life is in You, Lord, my strength is in You, Lord, my hope is in You, Lord.” Those words really took me back for a moment. Really, is my hope in the Lord? I think it is. But I couldn’t help but think that maybe the cause (or part of the cause) of this loneliness is that I don’t always look to Him to meet my needs for companionship and love.
During the Lord’s Supper, I took some time to read through Psalm 34. It’s one of my favorites, especially on days like today.
“Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing…The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry…The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
It’s a great reminder of God’s faithfulness to us, to hear and answer us when we’re lonely and brokenhearted. I’m so thankful that He included promises like that in the Bible.
I know that we all go through seasons of loneliness, that there is a purpose for everything that we deal with, and that God causes all things to work for our good, no matter how bad they seem. I know too that it’s very possible that tomorrow I’ll wake up feeling full of life and love, and shake off the loneliness like I’m shaking off cobwebs. Then again, God could be trying to get my attention through all this. I don’t know. For now, I appreciate your prayers that whatever the reason for this time of loneliness that I’m going through, that my trust, my hope will truly be in God.
Last night at life group we discussed the spiritual disciplines (prayer, Bible study, meditation, fasting, service, etc.). One of the disciplines that we talked about that we don't often think about is simplicity. To me, simplicity is about editing out the unnecessary things in life that take up time and energy that could be better used in other ways. In this case, ways that relate to drawing closer to God.
Lately I've put myself on a pretty strict budget. I have some long-term financial goals, so that requires me sacrificing some things now in order to save for the future. As I work on my budget, I find myself seeking things and services that I could do without in order to save some money. There's an added benefit to having less--the fewer things I possess, the fewer things I have to worry about. Let's face it, so many times our possessions end up "possessing" us.
Simplifying your life is more than just eliminating certain material things. It can involve cutting out activities as well. Several years ago, I was heavily involved in our then-active singles group, as well as a few other ministries at church. For a while, I had activities nearly every night of the week. I loved it, but eventually reached the burn-out stage and my relationship with God suffered because I substituted all these activities for spending one-on-one time with Him. I needed to simplify my time, so I made the decision to cut out some activities. While I occasionally still have weeks where I'm busy nearly every night, those times are much fewer and farther between, and I've learned to pace myself a lot more. By simplifying my activities, I am much more rested and have more energy to devote to those few activities and ministries with which I'm now involved.
I'm curious as to how others have simplified their lives in order to devote more time and energy to God. How have you done it? What's your key to living a simple life?
Does God really care about me? You’ve wondered the same thing, haven’t you? If I had a nickel for every doubt that had ever crept into my mind about the extent of God’s love and care for me, well, I’d probably have my house paid off by now with a little leftover for a vacation in Hawaii.
Oddly enough, I don’t often question God’s concern in what I term the “big” matters. I believe that God cares about my health, my spiritual battles, my family, my job, etc. But it’s when He shows concern about the “little” things in my life that I feel like He really loves me.
Like today. After work, I went to Walmart to do some grocery shopping, a frustrating but necessary chore. Almost immediately, I found a parking space up front, right next to the buggy return. And it was totally a blessing, because Walmart was packed and I figured I’d be circling the parking lot for a while before finding a space. I knew that He cared that I was tired, that I’d had a long week, was a little grouchy and needed a little lift to my day. I didn’t even think to pray for a good parking space, and yet He still chose to bless me with one. Amazing.
If I was diagnosed with cancer or some other disease, my gut reaction would be to pray to Him for healing. But what about when I have a cold? I usually tough it out, without even considering asking God to heal me. It’s as if I’m allotted only a certain number of prayer requests per week, and I don’t want to waste my prayers on what I consider piddly stuff in case some major need comes along after I’ve met my request quota. Or perhaps I think that God simply does not care about a runny nose and cough. Not true.
Remember Jesus’ first miracle? He could have chosen to raise someone from the dead or cause a lame person to walk again. Those would have been incredibly impactful miracles, just the thing to kickoff the greatest ministry the world would ever know. Instead, Jesus’ first official ministry kickoff miracle was turning water into wine. Running out of wine at a wedding was an incredible embarrassment, a social faux pas. Jesus’ concern was for the bridegroom’s feelings, sparing him and his family from embarrassment. Right from the start of His ministry, Jesus made it clear that He does care about us in every sense.
When you’re in love, your concern for the other person extends beyond just meeting basic needs. You don’t just want your love to be well-fed, but you want to cook their favorite meal, or surprise them with a box of chocolates (Godivas are always a good choice). Their concerns become your concerns, big and small.
In I Peter 5:7 we’re told, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” God’s love and concern for us knows no boundaries. Everything that we care about, He cares about, because He cares about US.
In Psalm 20:4-5, David writes: “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed…May the Lord grant all your requests.” Notice that David didn’t say, “May the Lord grant only your big requests, the ones that make the most impact.” Nope, his prayer was that God would come through for ALL requests, big and small.
Further, Paul says in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Once again, there are no conditions attached…we are instructed to pray and petition God about anything that could cause us anxiety, whether that’s waiting for medical test results or math test results. Do you think God would have allowed Paul and David to write these things, would have included them in His Word, if it were not so?
Many times, seeing God act in the “little” things reinforces my faith that He’ll come through for the biggies in my life. For example, my friend Aleah and I often remark about how perfectly God picked out our dogs for us, dogs who suit our personalities and have brought such joys to our lives. And we say that if God took such care with giving us dogs, how much more care will he take with bigger matters, such as picking out our husbands? (Don't worry fellas, I’m not comparing men to dogs here!)
God knows when I’m lonely, when I’m anxious, when I’m nervous, when I’m irritable. And not only does He know, but more importantly, He cares! How great is the love our Father has lavished upon us!
Lisa
“There is a time for everything…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,” Ecc. 3:1, 4
My heart has gone through “spiritual rehab” this year. It’s been a tough year, what I affectionately call a “faith-building” experience.
Perhaps the most difficult challenge to face was the end of a dear friendship. Rejection in any form is never easy; when it comes from one of your closest friends, well, that’s a bitter pill to swallow no matter how you sugarcoat it.
And so came a time to mourn. I humbly say that these were not my finest hours. I did a lot of whining to God. Sometimes, I pleaded with Him for the restoration of this friendship; other times, I pleaded for Him to take away any desire on my part to be friends again. Basically, I was a whiny brat who wouldn’t shut up to God about it. (How merciful He is! He could have struck me mute like Zechariah!)
I went the route of isolating myself from nearly everyone in an ill-conceived attempt to protect from being rejected by any other friends. I’d still hang out with my friends, still joke and laugh and talk about my day, but I had a hard time letting anyone in to see the real me for a while. Basically, I wanted to rest my heart, whisk it away to some secluded spa for a little R&R. And all the while, my heart was wasting away from lack of use.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” I John 5:7-8
So I found myself in spiritual therapy. Physical therapy rehabilitates injured body parts so they can be used again. Spiritual therapy rehabs the heart. And it has been a painful process, grueling at times. Part of my regimen has been extending love to people who hurt me—including this former friend—and praying for them as well. That has at times been challenging, but it’s gotten a lot easier throughout the year.
I’ve had to let go of a lot of hurts that I’d held onto, a lot of baggage that had become a security blanket of sorts for me. I’ve been called to forgive those who hurt me, and to also take a good hard look at how I’ve hurt other people, especially in this friendship. I had to own up to a lot of mistakes that I’d made, and that was a very humbling process. I had to make peace with the regrets I had about how things ended and learn to leave those in the past and move on.
The more I’ve exercised my heart, especially when I didn’t feel like it, the more I’ve seen God working in me. My fear of being hurt again, although not completely vanished, has dramatically decreased. I’m giving more of myself and once again opening myself up to my old friends and to the new friends God has brought into my life this year.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
The blessings have been immeasurable. This loss, thankfully, ended up drawing me so much closer to God. As He had been there in other storms I’d weathered, He proved Himself to be my truest Friend in every sense of the word. My faith has deepened dramatically, my walk with Him much closer, and my peace and joy infinitely increased.
It also drew me closer to those friends who I did confide in and make myself vulnerable to during this time. Their unwavering support, love, encouragement, and occasional rebuking often gave me strength. I praise God for their seemingly unlimited patience and care with me. They truly were (and are) an extension of God’s hands to me.
And—miracle of miracles—I no longer hurt when I talk to this former friend, no longer automatically put myself on guard when they’re around. I’ve been freed to truly love them unconditionally, and not just because I’m commanded to, but because I truly want to. One of those kooky unexpected side-effects of this rehab.
So there’s a lot of good that’s come out of this year, countless blessings in the middle of the rehab. I’m thankful that my heart is stronger now, perhaps stronger than it has ever been. I’m thankful that none of this experience has been wasted—God has truly worked these things for my good (Rom. 8:28). Let the dancing begin!
Don’t stop loving,
Lisa
Don’t take this the wrong way, but you intimidate me. Yes, you, gentle reader. It’s occurred to me that by publishing this blog, sharing my thoughts and feelings with friends, family and strangers, I am putting myself way out there. There’s a real fear factor here, a real vulnerability that I’m open myself up to in my writing.
What if what I say isn’t of any relevance to anyone but me? What if I sound stupid? What if I misspell a word? (Horrors!) Worse, what if I say something offensive or insensitive? What if no one’s reading??
Then I think, Lisa, who are you trying to impress? Who are you seeking adulation and adoration from? God or man? It’s easy to talk about wanting to do all things to the glory of God—living it is another matter.
Countless times throughout my day, I’m more focused on what others think than what God thinks. I measure success—in my writing, in my job, in cooking—by the response of people, instead of by what God says.
So throughout this blog, just like throughout every other aspect of my entire life, I’ll be in a constant battle to resist the temptation to make myself “sound good”. The focus should be on God and what He say, letting Him use me to share Himself with others. Die to myself and live for Him.
The battle wages on…
Lisa
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4: 13-14
Life is short.
I was reminded of that today. This afternoon, a friend’s father died suddenly. He was laughing and enjoying life one minute, going home with Jesus the next. A shock to his family.
Life is so fleeting. So why do we act like it’s anything but? We put off doing things we should do. We procrastinate like crazy, taking tomorrow for granted. I think about balancing my checkbook, but that can wait. Or I say I’m going to clean out my refrigerator this weekend or mow my grass, but I put it off as long as I can, figuring I can do it tomorrow.
And then there are bigger things, more important things that I sometimes put off doing. I won’t confess how many years it’s been since I’ve had a physical, but I’m dreading making the appointment because I know my doctor’s going to yell at me for not coming in sooner, so I keep putting it off.
There are books I want to read, passages in Scripture that I want to study. But I keep on procrastinating because I tell myself I have all the time in the world. I’m deceiving myself.
Lately I’ve tried to live more in the present, less in the future. (Please do not think that I’m saying I don’t think about the future; it’s a very Biblical principal to plan ahead. But Scripture also teaches the importance of getting things in order now, making the most of today and not squandering the time God has given us today. Today could be our last day.)
I’m making more of an effort to enjoy time with my friends and not worry about staying up too late. I’m more generous with my love and praise of the people around me, and less concerned about what I’ll get from them in return. Relationships as a whole have become more important to me. I want to live my life in such a way that if I were to die tomorrow, those who I love would know without a doubt that they were loved by me. That requires forgiveness, patience, kind words. Letting go of grudges. Letting go of a lot of things that used to bug me. I'm not perfect at it by any stretch, but more and more I feel like I'm living without regrets.
I encourage you to ask yourself what you’ve been putting off doing. Is it taking the first step in mending a broken friendship? Is it taking a stand for what you know is right at work or school? Is it telling your family that you love them? Life's too short to live with regrets.
Lisa
I recently took my first trip to Chicago with some friends. This was not a work-related trip, not a day of sightseeing sandwiched between a conference or meetings. This was my first sure enough, bona fide vacation this year, and I enjoyed it whole-heartedly.
Being a huge sports fan, I particularly relished our visits to Wrigley Field, home of the Cubs. We first went to the stadium on Saturday afternoon, where we took the behind the scenes tour, then returned on Monday for a baseball game.
Eager to soak up the atmosphere, we arrived at the stadium just before they opened the gates, which was two hours prior to the game time. After locating our seats, a couple of friends and I ventured down to the left field wall to capture some photographs of the pitchers warming up. Dozens of other people had the same idea, and the wall was crowded with cameras and autograph seekers.
After maneuvering my way down to the first row at the wall, I found myself standing next to a boy of about eight years of age and his father. The father was holding a notebook and patiently keeping a close eye on the players who were pitching and fielding balls. His son, on the other hand, was anything but patient. I quickly summed up (despite my lack of formal training in sociology) that this kid was a brat.
Every word out of the boy’s mouth had a whiny pitch to it. And he had a lot to say. “I’m tired.” “I’m hungry.” “Why are we standing here?” “Why don’t we find our seats already?” “I’m sick of this!”
Meanwhile, the father, who must have been in the running for sainthood, kept gently answering his son. “I know you’re tired, son, but wait just a few more minutes.”
What the boy didn’t realize was that his father had a purpose for standing there at the wall, a purpose greater than stretching his legs. He wanted to get his son an autograph from a real Major League baseball player. This could be something that his son would cherish for years, perhaps show to his own children someday.
Kid, if only you knew that your dad was trying to do something special for you, then you’d shut up and wait quietly, I thought to myself.
Like a kick in the gut, I felt God nudge me. How many times do I get impatient with my Heavenly Father, turn into a major brat because I can’t see what He has in store for me? So many times I’m willing to give up waiting on God, to find a seat and rest my tired legs and forego the surprise that God is working on for me.
There have been times in my life when I felt like God wasn’t making any sense or giving me any direction. There have been times when I’ve questioned Him, when I’ve whined to Him because I didn’t understand what He had in store for me. And there have been times when it seemed like God DIDN’T have anything in store for me. But that was not the case.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
I’ve read and re-read this verse many, many times throughout the years, particularly when I am going through one of those waiting spells that don’t seem to make sense to me. I need that reminder. Having life to the full is not only about God taking care of the here and now, but also realizing that God is concerned about and planning an abundant future for me as well.
What amazing grace!
Lisa
Selecting a favorite verse in Scripture is like asking me to choose my favorite child (or so I'm told). But a few years ago I adopted a verse as my "life verse," the verse that I see as the theme of my life.
In John 10:10, Jesus says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
When I first read this verse, I thought Jesus meant that He came to give us eternal life. And praise God, that is part of it. But that's not all. Not only did He come to bring eternal salvation, but also an abundant life right here, right now.
Wow! That blows my mind sometimes. As if going to Heaven for all eternity wasn't an incredible enough gift of life, Jesus goes a step further by promising life now.
I've come to realize that the life that Jesus brings isn't without risks. Think about when you've felt most alive. Chances are, it's when you've taken some sort of risk, whether physical danger or an emotional risk.
For me, living an abundant life to the full is risky. It means loving people wholeheartedly, really putting other's needs and desires ahead of my own, showing patience with someone who's really trying mine. I could curl up in a ball and nest away into a cocoon, protecting myself from getting hurt or disappointed or experiencing failure. But that's not really living, not the way I want to live. I know far too many people who are breathing but aren't living.
I have to remember the first part of the verse, too--the thief (Satan) is aiming to steal the joy, the peace, the life that I experience in Christ. I have to be on guard against his schemes. He knows he's lost the war, he can't touch me in Heaven, so he concentrates on destroying my life here on Earth. Because I'm a child of God, I can have a rich, abundant life here, because Jesus said so. I hold on to that, especially on days where I feel deprived or bereft of meaning or purpose or joy. That's Satan at work.
Having life to the full brings love, joy, peace, purpose--all those things that people search for and try desperately to get on their own. Only Christ can bring it fully. No matter what happens in my life, when I come to the end of it, I want to be able to say that I truly lived, truly loved, truly experienced a deep, meaningful life. For me, there's no other way to live.
