The Other 167

John 10:10 is one of the great marketing slogans for Christianity. The promise of receiving abundant life sure sells a lot better than images of bearing crosses and dying to ourselves. But like a lot of things in the Bible, I think we might let a little too much human play into our interpretation sometimes, rather than reading what it actually says.

Jesus came to give life more abundantly. But as the recipients of this amazing gift, we think we ought the be the ones who get to define it. Love, joy, peace, that sounds great and all, but what’s the trade in policy on this thing? “I’m pretty well set in the patience department” we might negotiate, “How about some more money instead?” or “I’ve got plenty of self-control but don’t skimp on the kindness. I do wish people would be nicer to me!”

I bet if God were the proverbial genie granting 3 wishes, our requests would reveal at least 4 desires of the flesh. But that’s not what it says.

It’s kind of ironic when you think about it. The word abundant means “existing in large quantities” (in English, I’ll leave the Greek to Ben). How exactly did we turn that into a promise to increase the quality of our own lives, at the individual, singular, level? Isn’t that kind of the opposite of abundant?

Maybe He just meant that He came to give life to more sheep? Considering that without Him, all the sheep would die, that interpretation seems reasonable. But it’s not much of a marketing slogan. Unless you’re a sheep.

So what? We follow Jesus just so we get to live? Not to go all Ecclesiastes on you but, yeah, from John 10:10, that’s about all I read.

But don’t just read John 10:10. Back up a few verses and read about knowing His voice and Him calling us by name. Rewind to John 3 and remember much the Provider paid for this gift, and fast forward to John 14 - 16 and read about how simple the Shepard made His commands and His promises to help us fulfill them.

Read other books too. He doesn’t promise us riches, but Matthew 6 does promise that He’ll provide for us. And when it doesn’t seem like He will, Hebrews teaches us how to have faith. When we get tired of turning the other cheek, Ephesians 4 helps us handle conflict, and when we’re the ones we keep having to forgive, Romans 7 reminds us that we aren’t the first and Romans 8 reassures us that God accounted for our imperfection.

To truly discover the abundant life, we have to get to know the Provider. Yes, He’s more concerned with giving life to more sheep than improving the quality of life for one, but He’d love to let all of the sheep participate in the mission.

I can’t define the abundant life because it is beyond measure, existing in infinite quantities of infinite varieties. But I do know where to find it. Go back to John 10:10.

I saw the other day that a church got in trouble for displaying a “Jesus in ‘24” sign outside of their church. As Christians, doesn’t it sound amazing to think of what it would be like if we could elect Jesus Christ as our next President? Can you even imagine it? Lovingkindness for all, peace and joy abounding, generosity and freedom overflowing behind the leadership of the greatest figure the earth has ever known.

Here’s the problem: He’d never get elected. Want to hear something even worse? You probably wouldn’t vote for Him. And neither would I.

Consider His platform: He’d close every “reproductive healthcare” facility in the country and impose a tax of, I don’t know, around 10 percent, on all Christians that would go directly to funding a new program supporting unmarried single mothers.

He’d deport every illegal alien on day 1 and pass immigration reform that simplified the process so much that twice as many new immigrants showed up on day 2. This would throw a huge wrinkle into the economy. But He wouldn’t care. He’d just dip into His Christian tax fund to make sure everyone was provided for (including the single pregnant women arriving from Mexico).

He’d appoint a hippie from California as His press secretary to communicate the vision He had for His people and invite the most ruthless and greedy Wall Street executives to Presidential dinners at the White House, setting quite the scene for when the LGBTQ+ leaders showed up with the best seats at the table.

As Christians, we might know that Christ is the answer to the world’s problems. But we only like to think about how He’d fix the problems WE HAVE with the world. How can we be His hands and feet if we only think of how His grace extends to our needs? The right hand might be on the opposite side of the left, but neither one can scratch itself. Just sayin’.

One of the few things that all humans agree on is that all humans are all flawed. Ironically, one of our biggest flaws, is our inability to notice our own part in that statement. I used to love refereeing 5-year-old basketball. They all want the ball, even though none of them can dribble, pass, catch, or shoot. It was so funny to watch players from the same team fight each other for the ball like it was a rugby scrum. Eventually they’d all lose control, and it would go out of bounds, or the other team would grab it. I even had a kid climb up my arm trying to get the ball from me once during a time-out. I imagine that’s how God sees us a lot of times. 8 billion kids fighting for control of a really big ball, blaming each other when it doesn’t go well, and occasionally even challenging the One overseeing the chaos.

We’ll never change the problems of the world. We weren’t designed to do that. Instead, God wants to change our perspective. For Him to be able to do that, sometimes we have to stop asking who to blame, so He can show us who to help.

Several years ago, a friend asked me if I wanted to be on his mud run team. “Hmm, sounds fun”, I said, “but what’s a mud run?” A couple of amusing minutes later, not only was I positive I didn’t want to be on his mud run team, but I was also reevaluating the judgement of my friend selection. That sounded insane!

No offense to anyone who has participated in these self-inflicted torture tests, but I’m out. After paying about a $100 entry fee, you get to run like 2 miles through freezing water and mud, through dozens of obstacles including my personal favorite, live electrical wires! But not for nothing, if you complete the course, you get a free tee shirt.

At first glance, this might be the way we see the Christian Walk. Being crucified with Christ and baptized into His death doesn’t sound fun (Romans 6). Dying to self and picking up our cross daily doesn’t sound appealing at face value either (1 Cor. 15 & Luke 9). But that’s because of our flawed human perspective. Our selfish nature causes us to see our ways as best and, as a result, we view trading them for God’s righteousness as a sacrifice.

But God doesn’t see it is a sacrifice. From His perspective, we are ALREADY running the self-inflicted torture test, and He’s offering us a way out. Everything Jesus suffered at the Cross was to give us access to a better way. It even refunds our entry fee and ends up with something way better than a tee-shirt.

If you want to see how much God wants us to stop torturing ourselves, just look at the Cross. Did the same God who loved us enough to brutally sacrifice His only Son for us do it just so we could sacrifice our own joy back to Him? If that’s what He was willing to do to give us another way, how much torture are we putting ourselves through?

I won’t try to answer that. Even God couldn’t find words to answer that. He showed us with Jesus.

What do we have to do to go to Heaven? And once we do it, can we undo it? Is the thing we have to do a one-time thing, or a process over some period of time, and if so, for how long? These are common questions we tend to ask ourselves, and we spent most of this episode on these topics in some form or another.

I don’t believe it’s as simple as being dunked in water. I don’t believe any prayer will do it. I don’t believe a certain attendance record at your local church or even the denomination of this church is a deciding factor. In fact, I can make a longer list of things I don’t believe will get us into Heaven than I can of things that I think will.

At the same time, I’m almost positive that whatever the answer is, it’s not a complicated one. I don’t believe God sent His son to bear the burden of our sins and suffer the way He did to demonstrate God’s love, only to make the acceptance of this love difficult to figure out. If we have to solve a spiritual Rubik’s cube in order to receive our salvation, why put Jesus through that in the first place? But if salvation is so simple, why is the Bible not clearer on what exactly defines it and how it’s obtained?

I believe it’s because we are asking the wrong questions. God didn’t share the minimum standard with us because that’s not what He wants for us. He did make it clear and simple. He tells us to seek Him with our whole heart, and to seek first His Kingdom and the rest will be added. If we seek God with all our heart, it’s impossible not to find salvation in the process, but it will be on our way to far greater things.

This isn’t for God’s benefit. It’s because God wants us to enjoy more of His blessings than just the minimum. He knows that we will have more peace, love & joy seeking Him with our whole heart than we will by seeking enough of it to get us to Heaven. Rather than worrying about what we have to do for God, we should be seeking all He wants to do for us, and Heaven will most definitely be included.