We cannot help it that we are too often at the mercy of other people’s choices.
Perhaps it is the stench of pot smoke wafting into the yard from an inconsiderate neighbor. Or maybe our travel plans are restricted by the constant parade of stories that someone’s bad judgment has once again shut down the Coquihalla Highway.[1] For some, it is the tragic experience of a loved one gone forever because someone thought they could drive while intoxicated.
Whatever the case, there is ample proof of this, that a big part of life is adjusting to what is going on with others. Sometimes we are simply one of the dominoes that fall as the result of what someone decided to do,[2] while other times those choices are deliberately aimed at ruining our lives.[3]
While everyone could come up with their own
stories of how they have been affected by the choices of others, there is a
very significant way in which all of us are affected by the choices of two
opposing groups. Jesus described it like this: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they
may have life and have it abundantly.”[4] We cannot change this. There is an evil spirit-being whose purpose in our lives is to steal what was given to us by God, kill the life God made for us, and destroy anything in our lives that would lead us to know God and enjoy him forever.
On the other hand, there is someone greater than that evil being who came for the purpose of giving us life, and of the kind that must be described as, “abundantly”.
In the early days of our daycare we had our families bring the snacks and lunches for their children. It wasn’t too long into this adventure that we noticed something that was hurting one of our little ones. She would sit at her spot at the table with a very simple collection of food items that often did not vary from one day to the next. Across the table from her a little boy opened his lunchbox to a smorgasbord of selections that were always greater than he could eat in one day.
Because the little girl could not possibly understand the discrepancy between the meal options, we made the decision to begin offering the snacks and meals ourselves so that all the children would receive the same opportunities. However, it was clear that, even at an early age, children can tell the difference between merely getting by and having an abundance.
Jesus did not leave us with a choice of whether we wanted to just get by or have a life of plenty. Rather, he contrasted our enemy’s aim to steal, kill and destroy, with his own activity to give us an abundance of life.
I write this as a pastor who has witnessed a great majority of church-folk who live fairly superficial lives of self-protective role-playing rather than anything resembling the abundance of life Jesus promised to those who follow him.
On one side, Jesus warned us about such things. Not only does the thief come to steal, kill and destroy, but he constantly schemes against God’s children to make their lives a testimony of defeat instead of victory.[5] He is pictured as an “adversary” that, “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”[6] He can even lure followers of Jesus into his traps where they find themselves doing his will instead of that of their Lord and Savior.[7]
On the other side, Jesus came for the direct purpose of giving us the abundance of life and the devil cannot stop him from doing this. He provides a whole suit of spiritual armor that local churches can wear to protect themselves in times of attack. [8] He enables his disciples to stand firm against the roaring lion’s threats.[9] He provides pastors who do not get caught up in the devil’s divisive activities but are eager to show the love of God even to their opponents in the hope that they will find their freedom in Christ.[10]
The point is that Jesus, “came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” He laid down his own life in death “to destroy the works of the devil.”[11] He came to “destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”[12]
The question is, who are we going to trust? The emissaries of one whose unceasing purpose is to steal, kill and destroy, or the Son of the living God who came into the world to save sinners?[13]
How do we receive Jesus’ gift of abundant life?
The answer is, faith.
Not faith as its own object, but faith as a direct response to Jesus and his offer of abundant life. If you have never received the life Jesus has offered, it is received by faith.[14]
If you have received Jesus’ gift of life but you know your experience of this life does not qualify as “abundantly,” you come into that abundance by faith. As it is written: “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”[15]
I encourage you to take the Bible verses God has breathed-out for us about our victory in Jesus Christ and pray them back to him in some expression of faith. Even if the faith can only come out as a desperate longing for what is offered, God promises that, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”[16]
If you want your hunger for the righteousness of abundant life to be satisfied, call on God as your heavenly Father and ask him to give you everything he has promised in his Son. And let people who have already found this abundant life walk with you as you seek this life together.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.[17]
© 2019 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
[1] The Coquihalla Highway of southwestern British Columbia, Canada, is
notorious for being shut down due to mostly preventable accidents.
[2] On my only return trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands in 1997 I was
disappointed to find out that, not long before my arrival, some disgruntled
person cut down a golden spruce tree that had attracted visitors from around
the world and was the focus of scientific studies to continue propagating that
particular species of trees.
[3] All around the world, people’s lives are ruined by terrorist groups
that target their faith and way of life, or governments that side with corrupt
people, or lobbyist groups that demand everything be done their way.
[4] John 10:10
[5] Ephesians 6:10-13 describes this battle, and the whole passage of
Ephesians 6:10-20 expands the description to show how Jesus’ disciples can
experience victory through the corporate experience of the whole armor of God.
[6] I Peter 5:8
[7] II Timothy 2:24-26 describes believers who need help to, “come
to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by
him to do his will.”
[8] After describing the reality of the devil’s schemes against the
church in Ephesians 6:10-13, the whole passage of Ephesians 6:10-20 expands the
description to show how Jesus’ disciples can experience victory through the
corporate experience of the whole armor of God.
[9] I Peter 5:8 calls us to stand firm because we are able to do so in Christ.
[10] The passage in II Timothy 2:24-26 instructs pastors to “not be
quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting
his opponents with gentleness.” This gift of grace invites the opposers to
surrender to God’s kindness that is leading them towards repentance (Romans
2:4) and freedom in Jesus Christ (II Cor 3:17-18).
[11] I John 3:8
[12] Hebrews 2:14-15
[13] I Timothy 1:15
[14] John 1:12-13
[15] I John 5:4-5
[16] Matthew 5:6
[17] Romans 8:37-39
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