“The thief comes only to kill and steal and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it ABUNDANTLY.” (John 10:10)
Abundantly… from the Greek “perissós” meaning ALL-around, MORE than, BEYOND what is anticipated, EXCEEDING expectation.
THIS is what Jesus has for us.
This may not look like anything special to you, but this simple little meal floods my heart with so much, especially today. Strawberries and cream oatmeal. “Coffee milk.” Emphasis on the milk.
You see, this meal I ate almost every single morning until I was 5 years old. Usually in my Soso’s lap.
Today, my Soso went to meet our sweet Jesus, whom I learned so much about from her over a bowl strawberries and cream oatmeal and a tweety bird sippy cup full of coffee milk. And today, just like old times, I learned some more about Jesus over a bowl strawberries and cream oatmeal and a *Wicked mug* of coffee milk.
As I sat at my table trying to choke down my makeshift Soso meal that was seasoned with tears (and that didn’t taste quite as good without Soso’s touch), I felt the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart to read my Bible app verse of the day. It was John 10:10. I immediately saw in those words a little baby glimpse of what Soso saw this morning. She saw life and she saw it ALL-AROUND, MORE than, BEYOND what she anticiped, EXCEEDINGly above her expectations that she had in this life… she saw life ABUNDANTLY. Wanna know why? She trusted in JESUS, who is literally the embodiment of perissós. She met perissós itself this morning!!!!!! I have no doubt that this morning was so joyful for her, and now she’s getting to eat at the KING’S table. And as good as her strawberries and cream oatmeal and coffee milk was… I know The Father’s food is so much better.
And guess what?? It gets better (always does with Jesus)! We don’t have to wait to enter into the ultimate place of perissós to start experiencing life perissós. When we accept Jesus, we can have that in this life here on Earth! Jesus came so that we may have LIFE and have it ABUNDANTLY. When we repent of our sins and ask Christ to come into our hearts and make us a new creation in Him, we get life. And Jesus explicitly told us that He doesn’t want us to just have life… He doesn’t want us to just live a mundane, routine, boring, old life. He wants us to live life ABUNDANTLY. When I imagine a picture of what “abundant” looks like for Christians, I see a cup OVERFLOWING. Living an abundant life only comes from Jesus. He is the ONLY thing that will fill us up and fill us up so much that we literally overflow with His love and His fruits. Money won’t do it, drugs won’t do it, work won’t do it, cell phones won’t do it, significant others/spouses won’t do it, sex won’t do it, makeup won’t do it. Those things only leave us empty eventually. That’s the enemy trying to steal, kill, and destroy. NOTHING EXCEPT for Jesus Christ will fill you up!
Jesus longs for you to have life and have it to the absolute fullest. He doesn’t want to hold you back with religion. He wants you to overflow out of a RELATIONSHIP with Him. Trust Him and let Him clean your heart out (it’s never too dirty) and then let Him fill you back up. You’ll be spilling out life onto other people before you know it just like my Soso did in her days here. ;))
