Fill in the blank:
“Life is ___________”
Survey says – the number one answer is… “A Bowl of cherries”
Some would say, “difficult,” “a rat-race,” “a series of choices”, “life is what you make of it,” “life is the weekend,” “life is a paycheck,” “life is one big party…”
Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”
Or, – “life is not a dress rehearsal, you only get to live it once…” Or life is great – if you don’t weaken!
For a great many people, sadly, life is nothing more than the time spent between birth and death.
They find nothing but drudgery in daily existence and the boring monotony of the routine…
Hope is all but eroded…and non-existent. There are many things that can steal our joy, our happiness and our contentment – if we “let or allow” them…
I have heard many people say that if only they could take a cruise or retire in luxury or have their fantasies fulfilled – well that would be “really living.” But people do these things all the time and still they remain empty.
It is not about performance. Satisfaction of “one job” completed is usually short lived. The thrill of victory lasts only a few minutes.
Possessions are not the answer. You know as well as I do – that we have been sold a bill of goods, on buying the new and improved, bigger is better…and you have to be the first one on your block…
You never have “enough money” and you never can have “too many toys!” Hoarders are us!
“Positions, power, prestige or reaching a certain status” are all fleeting as well.
It is like – can we EVER be satisfied, can we EVER be truly happy or content?
Some people seem to think that it is all about the pursuits of this life. If they can just stay – “busy enough” and if life is lived “intensely enough” – to its fullest -they will discover what real life is…
And they run into stress, ulcers and coronaries – destruction, disease and death! Another dead end street…
Against this rat race comes the serenity of John’s gospel.
John boldly declares that the truth is – life is not found in pleasure, performance, possessions, power, prestige, position or pursuits…
Life is found in and through the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself said, “I am the resurrection AND the LIFE.”
Later in John’s gospel we hear the words, “I am the way, the truth and the LIFE.” And no one comes to the father except through me…
And then, in today’s gospel text, in a very powerful statement – Jesus says, “A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. “I have come that they may have LIFE and have it in ABUNDANCE.”
So it is not just “life”…but abundant life…life that is eternal…
Life means more than just breathing and the pumping of blood through the heart…
Abundant life is life without end…a continuation of life…eternal life.
When the “good shepherd” was talking about sheep and the gate…he meant that the sheepfold has only one entrance; LIFE has one source; spiritual nourishment is obtained one way; heaven can be entered through one entrance. And the “single means” of access to all that is LIFE is Jesus.
He is the way, the truth and the LIFE.
It was he – who has shown us the Father…
John’s gospel is boldly declaring that it is only through Jesus…only in the person of Jesus that we are saved.
It was the mindset of our God, that we need life ETERNALLY WITH HIM…not separated from him, life for all time with those we love, the good life, the real life…life forever…life without end.
To be a follower of Jesus is to know who he is – in a very personal way and to know who he represents and to live a new LIFE in him.
Daily dying to sin… Daily waking up as a new person in Christ Jesus. …Daily walking with him…daily talking with him…
The Spirit of the “Living God” offers to you on a daily basis, a new vitality, a new meaning, a new energy, a new purpose, a new enthusiasm, a new significance, a new outlook, a new hope, a new joy and a new LIFE.
It is yours for the asking, yours for the taking…
LIFE is so much more than a bowl of cherries or a box of chocolates…I don’t know about YOU– but I want abundant LIFE with MY GOD – FOREVER…