Abundant Life

John 10:10 says "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly". The word abundantly here comes from the Greek word, perissos. In the Strong's concordance this word means superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above. So Jesus in this verse is telling us that He came to give us and overflowing life.

As we give our self to God He has promised to return all plus more. He owns every thing and in this verse He promises to give back to us. I guess you could say it is like loaning some one something and they return it much better than when they got it. God in this case is giving His all to us as we give our all to him.

The first part of the verse describes what Satan does. He comes as a thief, to rob and kill. To bring us to total destruction. He came to steal our souls, to rob us of God's blessing. He wants to destroy our bodies through sickness and accidents. What a contrast to our loving, giving Saviour.

Christ came to Earth to defend life. He also calls us to do everything that we can to improve the lives of those around us. He wants us to preach the word not only with words but action. We are to help to relieve poverty, disease, hunger, injustice and ignorance. Jesus came to defeat death, but He also came to deliver abundant life.

This is a Covenant between God and us. From the beginning of time God has wanted us to have an abundant and prosperous life. God made everything and said that is was GOOD. He gave this beautiful planet to us. We were suppose to live here and have dominion over all of it. Man was suppose to live in that abundance. When we fell God still wanted man to live that way. To return man to this abundance God sent His Son to bring us again what we had lost.

We can have this abundance. To do so we must give our all to God. Not just our money, but our all. We must turn our lives over to Him, our talents, skills, our all. We must trust Him to deliver what He has promised. If you are sick, know that it is not from God but all illness is from the devil, and God can and will heal. He will get that job you need for you. If you are not living in his fullness examine your life and ask am I giving my all to God. If not I pray you will, He awaits with everything He has for you. He wants to give to you. Jesus said so, so it is true.