Yes, the abundant life. The life we all want to live. It doesn’t matter whether people are Christians or not. People want more. More money, more toys, more of a house, or more houses. More, more, more. Let us talk about abundant life and how to get it. The key is at the end of this post.
Definition
Abundant (adjective): an ample quantity: an abundant amount; existing or available in large quantities; plentiful; affluence; wealth.
To have more is a thing. There is an abundant amount of information in the world and on the internet about “how to have more.” In just one example of many for instance, a better job that pays more with more or better benefits. Is this wrong? Doesn’t God want me to have a good life? This is an abundant or blessed life, right?
Being Blessed
After all, if we are going to benefit the Kingdom of God we have to be successful and look successful. With the things that we have, it shows that we have a good God who wants to bless us, right? The more we have, the more blessed we are, and the more successful we look. If we are personally, professionally, and spiritually affluent, we must be living in abundance, truly blessed by God. This is when one thinks we can show others how good our God is to us (I will do a post on the word “Bless” in a future post) and say,
“Look how God has blessed me!”
Hold on a minute! This is not what the abundant life is about.
This is What IT is About
The above words are all the thoughts that run through my head. These are all the things I’ve heard about the abundant life over the years that I’ve often questioned. I felt as though, within ‘Christendom,’ this was just another “get rich” scheme that didn’t pan out for most. Someone selling another book or trying to gain a following through something everyone wants a part of in their life as a hopeful easy fix.
Now it is true, that to have an impact, one must have some revenue or abundance in which to operate.
But you never want to be the one it didn’t pan out for. So when you feel you are on the outside looking in on this ‘name it and claim it’ fad, you play the game to fit in. So the word ‘blessed’ starts to be twisted. “God blessed me with this new car” that they couldn’t afford but wanted to be seen as blessed. We begin to play the “keeping up with the Joneses” game. I could go on with the list. It was almost as if someone wanted to be seen as “favored” and/or blessed by God but had it all wrong.
Well, guess what? God took care of the ‘favored’ issue at the cross. Favor is a part of the package of Jesus redeeming us through the cross.
Many Christians believe they have to somehow earn the favor of God. In doing so, they can then live an abundant life. But the truth is, we already have His favor. God saved us because of His favor (grace) toward us.
Ephesians 2:8 NKJV
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
The Key
The real abundant life:
The real abundant life starts not with what you have earned or what you have personally. It doesn’t start with:
- money
- big houses
- giant, profitable business ventures
- any business ventures small or large for that matter
- cars
- jobs with fancy titles and being over others
- status
- _________(fill in the blank from your own life)
The abundant life starts with being focused on God. It’s not:
- What you do for God
- What you do because of God
- Living our lives:
- over,
- under,
- from, or
- even for God
- See Skye Jathani’s book, With
It is about life with God!
Are You Ready For It
What abundant life really is, is this. It is when you have finally put yourself in a place where God freely flows in you and through you. When you have put yourself in a position for God to bless others through you, then you are living an abundant life. This is when you become dead to yourself. Your focus is not on business, your work, and all that you do in life. Your focus is now totally on Jesus. You become a vessel for Him to truly work through you to lift others up.
This is when you have arrived! We will never have a perfect reflection of Christ to others. But it’s when Christ alone becomes what you are so focused on, that your reflection of Him is undeniable. This is when the abundant life begins to flow through you to others. With Him we can live abundantly (a blessing to others). This means with Him we can be the heart of God in every situation truly lifting others up in our…
Every-day-walking-around-kind-of-life!
2 Corinthians 9:8 AMP
8 And God is able to make all grace [every favor and earthly blessing] come in abundance to you, so that you may always [under all circumstances, regardless of the need] have complete sufficiency in everything [being completely self-sufficient in Him], and have an abundance for every good work and act of charity.
Challenge of the Week
Focus on one thing that will lead you to an abundant life – life flowing through you to others. You lose focus on this when you become too concerned about what others will think. About disappointing them. Or upsetting or displeasing someone. This causes you to be distracted and to be in servitude to them. They become your focus. Stay focused on Jesus. When your focus is on Him and His presence, then His life can flow through you to others. This is the abundant life. So be it!
See also:
