Saturday, December 16, 2006
John 10:10 "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
HE COMES TO GIVE LIFE
Every once in a while you will hear the expression, "Now this is living!" The person who steps off the plane to begin his Hawaiian vacation or the person who slips into his newly purchased hot tub for the first time might be heard saying, "Now this is living!"
The implication of this expression is that there is ordinary life, and then there is the "good life". And how true this is, there really are two kinds of life. Except to find the fuller and better version of life, one should not look to the cares and pleasures that are found in this world.
Sure, it's nice to experience some of the good things that this life has to offer from time to time, but we don't want to let these things become the basis for our highest hope. If this is case, these things will only disappoint us. The vacation will end, the hot tub will become old and will require costly maintenance, and so on and so forth. Even life itself here in this world will soon come to an end.
So the real "good life" is having a hope and future that surpasses the fleeting pleasures of this world. The real "good life" is knowing that we will be delivered through all the troubles of this world. The real "good life" is knowing that even when we die, we will live -- and live eternally in paradise.
The real "good life" cannot come to us through anything that this world has to offer. It can only come to us through the love of God. And in love God sent His Son into this world to pay the price for our sins, so that whoever believes in Him will be saved.
Without Jesus, a person's life becomes emptier and emptier, as he moves closer and closer to death and condemnation. However, by faith in Jesus, and through His merits, a person's life becomes fuller and fuller as everyday he moves one step closer to his heavenly home.
Jesus has come the so that we may have life, and have it more abundantly.
