“Jesus said…
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life, and have it full.”

When it comes to having a full life perhaps you are thinking I do not need Jesus’ help because my life is already full. Everybody’s life seems to be filled to capacity. I listen to youth talking about school work, extra curricula activities, working, and responsibilities at home. I listen to adults talking about the demands of working, raising a family, caring for parents, dealing with the hassles and responsibilities that come with being a home owner. I hear senior citizens complain that they are busier now than before they retired. It is safe to say that our lives are full. But is it the kind of full life Jesus came to give you?

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups — porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite — telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups. And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of the life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.” God brews the coffee, not the cups.

Unfortunately, like the alumni in that story, we have allowed ourselves to fall victim to our culture’s definition of a full life. The result is a life full of stress, anxiety, hassles, and compromised health. The very things we thought would bring us an abundant and full life have become thieves stealing, killing and destroying our lives.

There is a great difference between “Living the good life” and living a good life.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it full.”

The kind of good and abundant life Jesus desires for you and me begins with our relationship with Him. It begins with intimacy. The abundant life has everything to do with the relationship of the shepherd to the sheep. For Jesus, the first and foremost sign of an abundant life has to do with knowing and being known.

“He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out and the sheep follow him because they know his voice”
(vv. 3-4).

We don’t worship and serve a dispassionate, disconnected God who sits in a divine office dispensing orders. In Christ, God knows us by name, values us, and cares for us. In a world that seems to always operate out of a sense of scarcity, where the operative principle is always wanting, doing or being more, Jesus offers an abundance of love, grace and hope.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it full.”

The second aspect of an abundant life is relevance. Jesus’ love isn’t just a sentimental thought. Jesus would

“lay down [his] life” and be the “gate”
through whom all his sheep, his people,
you and I would “come in” and “be saved”
(v. 9).

The love and care of the Good Shepherd has a purpose. We are people who can make a difference! Relevance goes both ways. We’re not just saved from the dangers of life apart from God; we are also saved for the mission of sharing the abundant life in Christ with others. Jesus came to bring an abundant life and says to us,

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you”
(John 20:21).

As Paul put it,

“For we are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do”
(Ephesians 2:10, NIV).

No matter what job, family or life situation we find ourselves in, we find relevance when we see our connectedness to the purposes of God for the whole world.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it full.”

The third aspect of an abundant life is ministry. Measuring the full life involves a different kind of math than the rest of the world uses. All the things that typically mark success in the world don’t add up to a hill of beans in the eyes of Jesus. The full life is always outwardly focused, always concerned about how much one gives rather than gets. If there’s a measuring stick for the followers of Jesus, then it has to be Jesus himself. We measure ourselves by asking, “How well did we represent Jesus? How did I reflect his presence in my life? Did I move the kingdom of heaven a little closer to earth today?”

“I have come that they may have life, and have it full.”

Abundant life is synonymous with being a disciple of Jesus. Being a disciple may be a tough job, but it’s certainly not a miserable one. After all, we serve a shepherd, who loves us enough to die for us — one who gives us an abundant life designed to be fully lived with and for him.

The abundant life Jesus offers is a safe, eternal safe alternative from the abundant life the world offers. The life Jesus gives right now is abundantly richer and fuller. It is eternal, yet it begins NOW. Life in Christ is lived on a higher plane because of His overflowing forgiveness, love and guidance. Will you take Christ’s offer for a full life?