Real Life
Where is the life? Where is the abundant life that Jesus said he came to give us in John 10?
For many of us, we feel like it has escaped us. And it is not for lack of trying to find it.
ACTIVITY DOES NOT = ABUNDANT LIFE
We read our Bibles. We pray. We faithfully attend church. We serve in a ministry. We tithe. We share our faith. We go to conferences. We listen to Christian music.
We exhaust ourselves in Christian activity but often still feel like something is missing.
We turn to our pastors and watch sermons online, and we are told there is unconfessed sin in our lives, we don’t have crazy enough love, we aren’t radical enough, and that we need to be more than fans.
So, we cry out to God and beg for forgiveness. We look for ways to be radical for Jesus and prove to Him that we really do love Him. And in the end, we still feel the void. Oh, we may have figured out how to justify ourselves by looking down on others who aren’t loving as crazy as we are or who aren’t being as radical as us, but deep down we know the life has escaped us yet again.
Where is the life? Was Jesus lying when he said he came to give us abundant life?
No, Satan has just convinced us to look in the wrong places for the abundant life, even in the church. Jesus clearly told us where to find the abundant life.
WHERE TO FIND ABUNDANT LIFE
In John 11:25, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
In John 14:6, he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
In John 7:38, he said, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
Jesus is the abundant life. The abundant life is not found in what we try to do for Jesus but rather in Jesus Himself. The life is a Person.
1 John 5:12 says,
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
If you have received Jesus by faith, you have abundant life. But if you didn’t know that you had abundant life in you, you are going to keep looking for it in external things. The abundant life isn’t external though, it’s Christ in you.
The moment you said yes to Jesus, you entered into a spiritual union with Him. You are joined to Jesus, the One who is Life itself.
1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “Whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”
If you are one with Jesus, and Jesus is the Life, how much more life could you need?
None. You aren’t lacking anything in Him. You are complete. You are made whole.
WHAT ABOUT WHEN I SIN?
Does the life get less abundant when you fail, when you struggle, when you mess up and sin? Nope, you are still in union with Jesus. He doesn’t need to leave fellowship with you because you’ve sinned. He’s already paid for all your sins and rose from the dead, abolishing them forever.
It’s a forever union that you share with Jesus. So you have abundant life now and always.
REAL LIFE
As you discover this truth and begin to walk by faith that it is true, it will change your life.
You’ll enjoy freedom, joy, peace, and assurance. You’ll experience rivers of living water flowing in you and through you. The Christian activity will be different as it is generated from the inside out rather than trying to manufacture it from outside in.
You’ll finally begin to experience real grace and real life, the one Jesus said he came to give in John 10:10.
