One of the greatest promises - I think, anyway - that Jesus makes is found in today's reading in John 10. In v.10, Jesus says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
Let's focus for a minute on the promise in the second part of that verse, and not the warning in the first part. "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
Ask yourself an important question today: Is my life full? Is my life abundant? Many of us would answer, "Yes, it's bursting at the seams with responsibilities and activities and all kinds of hustle and bustle. If it was any fuller, I don't know how I could even find time to sleep!"
Unfortunately, that's not the kind of fullness Jesus is talking about here. What he's talking about is a life of spiritual abundance - blessing, joy, peace, love, truth and grace in abundance. Busyness and lots of activity isn't the abundant life, in fact it's often quite the opposite. One of my friends and spiritual mentors, Steve Smith, told me once that the Chinese character for busyness is a combination of two characters: heart annihilation. They got it right, I think. Jesus didn't come to annihilate our hearts. He came to breathe into them the absolute fullness of life that flows from heaven.
A busy life is a life dominated by the thief, Satan, that Jesus talks about. Our busyness and our constant going and doing are distractions that the thief uses to steal, kill and destroy our hearts. A spiritually abundant life is not a life of doing nothing, like a desert monk. We can find abundance in our work, our activities, our hobbies and interests and in family life. But when those things dominate the rhythm and focus of our lives, we shrivel up and die inside.
As we unpack and dig more deeply into John 10, we will see that the abundant spiritual life comes from trusting, listening to and being obedient to the Good Shepherd Jesus. It's not accidental that Jesus uses the metaphor of a shepherd and his sheep here, although many in our day and culture - including me - don't fully understand the relationship of the shepherd and sheep.
In v.3, Jesus talks about the sheep not only hearing, but recognizing and trusting the voice of the shepherd. I don't know how this works, because I've never spent much time with sheep, but I do know it's true of my black lab, Hank.
Hank is a hunting dog that I got in 2006, and I've trained him since he was 7 weeks old to listen to my voice and follow the commands that I give him. Some of my friends who have hunted with Hank and I for ducks or pheasants are impressed with Hank's work. But teaching him to retrieve ducks and to flush and retrieve pheasants wasn't really all that hard. It was a matter of consistently training him to listen to me, trust me and be obedient to me. Hank can be on a full out sprint, and I can make him sit on a dime. If he is running towards me, all I have to do is point at him and he will stop and sit. If he is running away from me and can't see me, all I have to do is yell "Sit," or blow a whistle and he'll stop and sit.
With my wife and kids though, it's a completely different story. They have had some frustrating moments with Hank because he simply doesn't recognize their voices as voices of authority. They can yell all they want - "Sit!" "Come!" "Fetch!" - but more often than not, he is not obedient to other voices. Only mine.
You see, this is the secret to the full life that Jesus promises. It requires not just hearing, but listening and obedience. Hank hears the commands of my wife and kids, but he doesn't listen and obey. Anybody can read the words of Jesus in God's Word, but are you really willing to listen to them - to internalize them and build your life upon them - and to be obedient to his voice?
If you're finding that you're not living a life of spiritual abundance - a life of blessing, peace, joy, love, truth and grace - you're probably not listening and being obedient to Jesus. These signs of the abundant life don't necessarily mean an absence of trouble, trials or hardship. This abundance can be ours even in the midst of life's trials and challenges. The letters of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament are full of encouragement and abundance even though Paul suffered through immense trials and hardships. Read the book of Philippians and note the encouragement and abundance in this letter. This was a letter that Paul wrote to his friends while he was imprisoned!
In my life and ministry, I've dealt with too many people that can't understand why God isn't blessing them and why they're not living a life of abundance. It's simply this - they're not surrendered to The Good Shepherd. When we trust other voices - whether it's the media, science, academia, other people, our own voice or even voices that are clearly of Satan and the forces of darkness - we are not trusting the voice of Jesus. When you live for yourself and until you decide to listen to and obey the voice of Jesus, you will never have a full and abundant life. We may have lives full of activities and busyness; we may have lives full of money and the best toys; we may have lives full of titles and 'atta boys; but those things don't bring spiritual fullness and abundance. They bring death and destruction. Only the voice of Jesus - The Good Shepherd - leads us to the fullness and abundance of life that He promises to those who listen and are obedient.
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