Sunday, March 08, 2009

Abundantly

John 10.10

"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

When Jesus was saying, “I am come that you might have life,” He wasn’t merely talking about the life as the essence, life as in being alive, life as is signified by breathing. If that was all He meant, the word used would have been ‘psuche’. He was talking about the things that make a life a life. He wasn’t telling us that He was come so that we could have our breaths. He wasn’t saying that knowing and serving Him meant that we would have the ability to breathe abundantly. He was talking about the things that make a life. He was talking about loving, laughing, crying, feeling, having, being, and everything between the breaths.

There are people in this world, you meet them every day, that do not have life, but rather, life has them. They are merely walking through the breaths. They are alive, but not alive. They have life, in as much as they are breathing (‘psuche’), but they do not have life (‘zoe’), and definitely do not have it more abundantly (‘perissos’.)

Jesus came that our ‘psuche’ may be a ‘perissos’ ‘zoe’.

What do people spend a lifetime grubbing for more and more? Why are people never satisfied with the things they have? Why do we need the next biggest car, or gadget, or house, or bank account? Where is our tether attached?

Tether ball: a game where a ball is attached to a pole by a line (tether) and each player seeks to wrap the tether around the pole in their direction.

The ball: when the player hits the ball in the game, he does not hit it in a curved direction. He hits it and it flies outward. However, at some point, it reaches the end of its tether and will travel in a circle around the pole. The ball, by the force exerted on it by the player, is trying to travel outward, but is tied by the tether and forced to travel around and get ever farther away from the freedom it seeks.

Jesus came to break the tether.

This will be expounded farther on my won by one blog later this week.

1 comment:

Retro Girl said...

I love this post! I so agree, and (I need to go read that other blog..and read it often!)

I think you are so right. Many of us get so sucked up and dragged along by a "life" that we don't realize is really draining the life OUT of us.

This time of year is a time for renewal. A time to let go of guilt and fear, stress and the things that separate us from God...and from living life as fully and with as much joy and appreciation as we can. Our blessings are SO many...this is the time to stop, and really take stock of all of them, and to be thankful.

I love this post because it's a good reminder...and makes me really THINK.

LY,
Red