Good Morning to All,
John 10:10;
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
A
few years ago, I had an interesting discussion with a young man. We were talking about faith, God’s promise of
forgiveness of sins and eternal life. He
looked at me and said, “so what?” “I get
it that heaven is great but what about this life; am I stuck here until I
die?” “What is in it for me now?” “Right now all I hear is rules to live by and
when I die; I get heaven.” “Get back to
me in a few years when I am older and I’ll start then.”
Well, I was a little taken aback. My first thought was about how kids these
days (yes, my ACTUAL thought) only want instant gratification. That is what’s wrong with the world today; it
is all about me and now. They only think
about now and what’s in it for me now.
They never take the perspective about looking for future good. I could have added that we never know when
death may occur but what teenager doesn’t think that they are almost immortal
and that nothing bad will happen to them.
Then I started thinking about his question about now; what is in it now?
That is when this verse came to mind. This is part of John’s discourse on Jesus as
our shepherd. Jesus is our caretaker,
protector and defender. We have that
now. This is part of “have life and have
it abundantly.” We have many blessings
from God, because of Jesus and the atonement we receive through his death and
resurrection. We receive the gift of
fellowship with our fellow believers.
This is the flesh and blood expression of God’s love for us here on
earth. We receive God’s promise of
sustenance, of being provided for. This
can and should give us a sense of peace as we face struggles and trials. God will provide.
God gives us the comfort that we need as we
face the struggles of life. When we fear
or worry or feel consumed by guilt, we can know it is the thief (the devil) who
comes to destroy you. We know that the
devil’s only goal is to cause us pain and all pain comes from him. Yet Jesus’ plan is for us to have life, right
now, and to have it abundantly. His
death does more than give us eternal life; it restores us to God’s family. It is the beginning of our life of glory with
him. Through it, we have the start of
this wondrous event. We don’t have to
wait until we die; we can enjoy the greatest truth ever; God’s redemption of
his people is occurring in us, for us and to us.
So that is what we have now with so much
more waiting for us tomorrow. We have
God’s promise for tomorrow but we have his blessings for today. The promise secure and we have abundant life.
Father
of mercy, we give you thanks for the many blessings of this life. You give us life more abundantly. Be with those who do not know the wonders of
your blessings, those who listen to the devil and his lies and miss your
grace. Bring them safely home. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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