So… now that I said I was going to write every week I better follow up on that promise! Honestly, the thoughts I posted last week have been running through my mind for several weeks, if not months, and I’m not sure what to add to it. Most systematic theologies begin by talking about God’s attributes like His omnipotence, omnipresence, or omniscience. Since I’m not a systematic theologian I don’t think I’ll start there. This is still a blog after all, so it will reflect where I am and what I’m thinking about.
So, what have I been thinking about this week?
I guess it was about life.
That may seem very broad and vague, so I’ll try to be more specific.
One of my favorite Bible verses is John 10:10 which says, “The enemy has come only to steal and to kill and to destroy; but I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.” (NIV) I like to translate the last part “that you might have life and have life abundantly.” It’s not necessarily textually correct -“life” is not written in the Greek twice, but I like the phrase “Life Abundantly.” (It’s on a necklace I bought from a young woman at a conference a few years ago. Her website is www.glorytogoddesigns.com. Check it out! She has beautiful jewelry.)
A few years ago the hope and promise of “life abundantly” brought me a lot of healing. I was recovering from depression and I realized that God does desire our lives to be abundant. He desires to bless us in life. While the enemy – Satan – desires to hurt us, bring pain, steal our joy and kill our hope, the Lord brings life. Not only life in heaven, but life today and now. I learned that the Lord wanted to heal me of my depression.
The last year has honestly not been the most abundant. Tim and I went through some pretty nasty stuff in our marriage and in the midst of a particularly horrible fight I cried on my mentor’s shoulder that I thought God wanted me to experience abundant life. I didn’t understand why I would experience so much pain. My mentor challenged me that maybe my idea of what abundant life looked like was wrong.
That thought has stuck with me. Maybe what I think abundant life looks like is different from what God thinks abundant life looks like.
The truth is, four months after I felt angry with God for my very troubled marriage, I think my mentor was right. Our marriage was very troubled. Maybe it still is in some ways. But I don’t think Tim and I could have experienced the amount of healing that we have experienced in the last year if we hadn’t gone through the trouble. If we hadn’t persevered through the pain. The last few weeks I have been humbled in my thankfulness over how close Tim and I are right now. How healthy we are. We are able to work through disagreements in a matter of minutes or hours when it would have taken days several months ago. We have learned what needed to change in ourselves and not just what needed to change in the other person because of the pain we experienced. And most of all, we are more committed to one another now than we ever have been.
I firmly believe this is all because of God’s promise of Life Abundantly.
And Life Abundantly comes from God's Spirit living in us.
His Spirit is in us because Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to be in those who believe in Him. That’s where the promise of life reaches its fruition. It’s as complicated and as simple as that.
Without the Spirit working in our hearts, keeping us compassionate for one another, and helping us make wise choices, I think we could have ended up like so many marriages that fail after three or four years. Discouraged, convinced it could never work. Instead we were painfully honest with one another. And we trusted that God would help us through it all.
Talking about my marriage feels very vague. But it’s the best example I have to explain how abundant life looks. I know I’m not explaining it well because I am very tired, so I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll edit this within the next week – if I have time in the midst of midterms… Those are painful too.
Life Abundantly?
Definitely. :)
