Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” [John 10:10 NIV]
Jesus came to bring us not just life, but life to the full, or life more abundantly as other translations render it. The Greek word is perissos (per-is-sos’); meaning beyond; superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality). In one place that word is translated as exceedingly abundantly beyond.
That’s the quality of life Jesus brings us – exceedingly abundantly beyond life. That is the kind of life that we must persistently choose. The enemy of our soul works to steal, kill and destroy that life. He works to fill our life with temptations, thoughts, and attitudes that diminish the life our Father wants us to have.
We chose life when God made the offer in Christ. Now we must consistently and persistently choose abundant life. We must choose to reject temptation. We must choose to have our minds renewed by the Word of God. We must choose to have the attitudes of Christ Jesus. We must choose to draw nearer to God each day (think maturity!). We must choose to forgive when hurt, to love when hated, to give when we have little to give.
As we make these daily, sometimes moment-by-moment choices, we see the abundant life revealed more and more in us.
