An Abundant Life
An Abundant Life
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
- Romans 8:5-6
As undeserving as you were, the robe and ring were offered to you by your wonderful Father and you accepted them. You sit at His banquet and, for the first time, get a glimpse of the depth of His love for you, His forgiveness, His acceptance and how much joy there is in knowing and loving Him. You realize you are significant to the creator of the universe and He has a unique plan for your life. He has supernaturally put His Spirit in you for comfort, guidance, encouragement and power and has promised to teach you many truths primarily through His inspired word, the Bible. He whispers to your heart, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
But unlike our parable, we don’t always see God and His ways clearly as we walk through life. And, even when His will is crystal clear from the Bible, we have forces pulling us in other directions. So how do we live life as a Christian? The first thing we must understand is that, once we become a Christian, there is a real spiritual battle that goes on every day and we are in the middle of it whether we like it or not. That daily conflict takes place on two primary battlefields. The first battlefield is our souls. Our soul consists of our mind, our will, and our emotions. The second battlefield is our relationships. Our relationship with our spouse, children, friends, coworkers, and even those who might be better described as enemies. Our Father wants His Spirit and the truth of His Word to direct how we think and the decisions we make. We choose life or death in what we say and what we do as we make choices on these battlefields every day.
Ephesians 6:11, 16-17 says we do not wrestle against flesh and blood (people) but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (demonic powers)… above all taking the shield of faith (believing God’s truth) with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts (lies, wrong thoughts, accusations) of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation (nothing can separate me from God’s love) and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says that we should take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. (If a thought comes to our minds that contradicts God’s truth, throw it out).
Proverbs 18:21 says there is life and death in the power of the tongue and those who love it (the power) will eat its fruit (either life or death).
John 10:10 says that the thief (demonic powers) does not come but to steal, kill, and destroy but I (Jesus) have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
So there are real spiritual forces that are putting thoughts in your mind every day. Coupled with that, we all have a sinful nature (the “flesh”) and that nature wants to be selfish and unforgiving and prideful and manipulative and it wants to judge everybody it disagrees with. When we surrendered to Christ, the Holy Spirit came to abide in us, and one of His jobs is to identify for us those sinful thoughts and desires so we can “die to our flesh daily” (Romans 8:13). But make no mistake, that nature is still alive and kicking in all of us. Every day we have to consciously battle the desires and feelings of our flesh. The more we deny these desires and feelings, the weaker they become and the more victorious we become over them. There seems to be three traps that Christians fall into more often than others. These are traps that are set for us by the enemy with the intended purpose to kill, steal, and destroy.
The first is pride. Pride says I have attained a position or a status or I have a gift or ability that makes me superior to others. It is thinking I deserve the credit for my success, my good fortune, my wealth, my goodness, my ability. The self-righteous pride of the Pharisees made Jesus sick in his stomach. And the ultimate pride is thinking that I can snub my nose at God’s will and His word and that I am wise enough to make my own decisions in life. I am wise enough to decide what is right and wrong, what is good and evil, what is best for me and my family. The Bible says God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. He is working against the proud. If you are prideful, God will go out of His way to make you miserable. Why? Because the Bible says pride leads to destruction and He loves you so much He will go to great lengths to get you to repent of the pride so you will not face destruction in your life and your relationships. Jesus said the greatest among us would be the servant of all. He lived the example of the servant King. He was born in a stable, He washed the dirty feet of His disciples, He had no place to lay His head at night, He hung around tax collectors and prostitutes, and He humbled Himself to a criminal’s death on a cross.
The second trap is unforgiveness. Unforgiveness is very deceptive and is so dangerous. When we talk about forgiveness, we think about the mother who publicly forgave the drunk driver that killed her son or the husband who forgave the burglar that assaulted and murdered his wife and these, of course, are mighty works of God in these people’s hearts. But forgiveness is something that we, you and I, must choose every day. We all hurt each other, we all betray each other, we all offend each other. Spouses hurt each other deeply. Friends gossip, betray, and offend each other. Children disappoint and reject their parents. Employers abuse and take advantage of employees. The issue isn’t who is right, who should apologize, how many times it has happened, whether the perpetrator is repentant, and whatever other rationale we use to justify “holding on” to the offense. If we don’t choose to forgive completely and remember their sin no more, the unforgiveness will open the door to bitterness, resentment, anger, rage, hate, despair, and scores of other torturers.
Jesus told a story about a king that forgave a servant a million dollars, and later that servant wouldn’t forgive a fellow servant fifty cents, a clear comparison of the magnitude of His forgiveness toward us with our forgiveness toward others. In Matthew 18:34 Jesus said, “And his lord (the king), moved with anger, handed him (the unforgiving servant) over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.” If you are holding on to an offense, or many offenses done to you, you better read those verses over a few times and let them soak in good. The torturers are the demonic powers of bitterness, anger, rage, resentment, hate, and despair. They will destroy you. They will destroy your relationships. When you see a person who has offended or hurt you, or that person does something they have done many times before, and your emotions flare up, or you immediately recall all their previous conduct on that computer screen in your mind, that is a clear sign that you have NOT forgiven them. Please, please go to our heavenly Father and ask Him to forgive you for your unforgiveness and to deliver you from the claws of the enemy. And then totally forgive and release your brother and choose to remember his sins no more. This is essential for peace and joy to once again flow through your soul and that “times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
The third major trap is judgment. Judgment is a killer of relationships. The Bible is clear that God is the only one that has the job of judge. Matthew 7:1 says, “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” (NLT) When we size up other people by their past conduct, or their looks, or their social status, or their race, we are judging them. The opposite of judgment is acceptance. God’s grace extends to us and He loves us and accepts us with all our faults. He has commanded us to do the same to one another. Remember the prodigal son? Remember him sitting next to his father at the banquet, just as sinful as he was the week before, but his father is laughing and rejoicing and enjoying his relationship with his treasured son. That is acceptance. It doesn’t mean we ignore sin but we understand that the sin we need to worry about is that sin in our own life, not in our friend’s life. We are then free to extend grace and acceptance to all those around us and let God work on those rough edges as He sees fit.
So, the battle in the mind goes like this. Your “friend” gossiped about you a few years back and has done it numerous times since. The Spirit of God in you has reminded you many times that you must completely forgive her and remember her sins no more. He probably whispered to you the words, “I have freely forgiven you for much, now you must freely forgive her.” Or every time you say the Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” you feel a nudge from the Holy Spirit. But you have chosen (your will) to hold on to that offense and not forgive her. You are at a social event and this “friend” whispers something to another girlfriend. (Probably asking some totally irrelevant question like what kind of oil she uses in homemade mayonnaise) A thought comes to your mind (fiery dart from the evil one) that says, “She is talking about you. Remember when she told Ann two years ago that she never sees you at your kid’s school events. And remember last year when she told her whole bridge group that she heard you and Joe were seeing a marriage counselor. Because of her everybody thinks you are a terrible mother and wife.” The pride, resentment, anger, and rejection that is in your old nature flares up. Your flesh wants to retaliate, get even, bring her down a notch, and let others know some stuff about her too. You are instantly mad at your husband for working late so much and missing so many soccer games. The Spirit of God in you says to fully forgive, fully love, take these thoughts captive and throw them out, and sow love and kindness. The battle is now raging in your mind. One reaction you can take leads to life and peace and joy and save a relationship. The other leads to resentment and anger and stress and hate and perhaps the death of a relationship or two. What words will come out of your mouth? Will your mind believe what God says, that you are loved by Him, precious to Him, forgiven, significant, protected, that His plans for you are for a future and a hope, and that by sowing love and forgiveness and grace you will reap love and forgiveness and grace? Or will you believe the thoughts thrown into your mind by the devil, the father of lies and the accuser of the brethren? “You are not respected, you are a terrible mother and wife, you are a failure, nobody really likes you, your husband is a jerk and puts his work above your family…..” Believing God’s word leads to faith and life and love. The result is a positive, trusting, content, fulfilling, and joyful life where you accept and love people even with all their faults. Believing a lie leads to heartache and pain and a life of resentment, rejection, un-fulfillment, and very few meaningful relationships. As God told Israel in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”
When we talk about living an abundant life, we are really talking about being faithful with some precious gifts that God gave us. There are four that come to mind. I can picture God asking us one day what kind of stewards we were with these.
1) I gave you My Son, full of mercy and grace. Did you enjoy Him? He gave His life for you and loves you with all His heart. Did you spread His love and mercy and grace and forgiveness around to others? Freely you received, did you freely give?
2) I gave you My Word. Were you faithful to it? Did you take time to read it and hide it in your heart? I told you if you knew the truth (My Word) the truth would make you free. Did you believe the truth?
3) I gave you some special people in your life. They were My precious gifts to you. Did you treasure them? Did you care for them? Did you forgive them and accept them even with all their faults? Did you bless them, encourage them, share the love of Jesus with them?
4) I gave you some unique talents, abilities, resources, influences and opportunities. What did you do withthem? Did you horde them, ignore them, use them all on yourself or did you bless others with them? When you had challenges and hard times did you whine and complain or did others see your strength and faith and courage and glorify me?
Dudley Hall in his book, “5 Pillars”, identifies 2 common approaches to decision making in Christians. The first he calls the avoidance method. Those Christians have a list of dos and don’ts that they live by. This method could be compared to a basketball player that spends all his time making sure that he doesn’t step out of bounds. Always watching the boundary lines. He is more interested in the rules than the relationships. Jesus would have called that a life of religion. The second method is expressed in 1 Timothy 1:5. “Our aim is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith.” Jesus would call this a life of meaning and purpose. This is the basketball player that is focused on his teammates, on playing his part, on doing his best, and on winning the game. He might step out of bounds every now and then, but his eye is on the prize.
My dad died last year at the age of 89. He was a great father and husband and had many dear friends, rich and poor, black and white, young and old. He really enjoyed us all. He loved to be with people and was not impressed with your money, your credentials, or your pedigree. He was a crusty old guy at times, as many were in his generation, and generally said exactly what he was thinking. His John Wayne way of speaking his mind often got him in trouble with mama but has sourced tons of hilarious memories my brothers and I laugh about frequently. One of his favorite events every year was our annual guys trip with all my brothers. We played golf, fished, hunted, and did lots of laughing. I will miss those trips. Daddy believed in the simple values of trust, honor, truth, courage, kindness and respect. During his freshman year at Ole Miss the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. At the ripe old age of 17, he and most of his buddies went to war. He and countless others like him didn’t think twice about risking their lives to protect their families, their freedoms, their country, and their beliefs.
Many of his friends never came home. During the Vietnam War, I was in military school and my older brothers were in college. The rebellion of our generation to the principles dad so strongly believed in broke his heart. I’ll never forget a letter he wrote the 4 of us. It read in part, “I grieve that my sons have to grow up in a time when honor and courage, respect and reverence seem to be forgotten. A time when individuals think they can redefine what is right and wrong. But I have seen in my lifetime and am reminded again today that great men are born in times of adversity. Men whose faith is in their creator, who believe and live by His word, who walk humbly before Him, and who love and respect their fellow man. Never think it is old fashion or not “cool” to salute our flag, to love your neighbor, or to have prayer with your Savior.”
The last time I talked to dad was in intensive care in Memphis not long before he died. As I told him goodbye for the night, he became very lucid and focused for a couple of minutes and a big smile came across his face. “If I don’t see you again ole buddy, it sure has been a lot of fun hasn’t it?” he whispered. All I could do was smile, hold his hand, and nod. Holding back tears has never been one of my strong suits. My eyes filled with tears of sadness, tears of love, tears of joy, and tears of thanksgiving for a life well lived, all at the same time. Life had not always been easy for dad. The great depression, World War II, losing my little sister in a car wreck, mama’s battle with cancer. And he had his many faults like all of us do. But somewhere along the way he got the revelation that the key to abundance, to fulfillment, to having a lot of fun, was loving and enjoying a wonderful heavenly father and loving and enjoying the people God put in his life.
Life was designed by God to be exciting, challenging, and fulfilling. It is not a problem to be solved but a gift to be enjoyed and lived abundantly. There is a wonderful Father waiting for you to wake up this morning and walk with Him through His kingdom. He loves you very much and wants to teach you some amazing stuff. He wants you to enjoy Him and enjoy a lot of special people He has put in your life.
Rom 8:5-6 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.