BREATHE: Abundant Life


“I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10

Do you have abundant life or are you looking for it? Should one affirm one has it or should we be busy acquiring it? In spiritual life these types of questions shed tremendous light on where the true path for life really is.

For many years I sought to acquire abundant life by careful obedience to certain principles. I was busy trying to line up dozens of practices that would allow me to finally enjoy the abundant life Jesus promised.

Just about the time I was feeling confident the principles were all lined up, I would lose track of one of the principles or get upset and violate one of them. Abundant life existed but it was like trying to catch the perfect wave on a surfboard and always just miss the moment because of a slight loss of balance. The wave would go by and I would be blaming myself for not catching it and envying those who did.

This kind of spiritual desire and constant coming short, left me tired, frustrated and more weak. Seeing the abundant life as a challenge, or an acquisition for the few with good balance and control, left me feeling inadequate and discouraged.

Then, suddenly, God opened my eyes. The abundant life is a generous Person. That Perfect Person abides in me right now. I don’t need to acquire the abundant life. The Abundant Life has acquired me. LIterally, the Abundant Life has chosen me as a place in which to live. My job is to believe not acquire.

Believing is not as simple as it seems. We live in a world with a million distractions and with a million offers for living. To believe in Jesus is to be able to ignore all the distractions and believe I already have what all the distractions say I do not have. Believing means to work from abundance and not for abundance.

Learning to believe is learning to receive from abundance, instead of trying to catch the elusive wave of abundance. Learning to believe is to see that universe as a place where generosity is the norm not the exception. Learning to believe is to see loving grace as being as abundant as oxygen. Learning to believe is to learn to breath in the generosity of God that abides in me right now.

Sit quietly right now and breath deeply. Did you doubt there would be enough oxygen for you to do so? You breathed because you have believed in oxygen your whole life.

Believing in and receiving the abundant life of Jesus in you can and should become just as simple as breathing. It should become essential and constant just like breathing.

Breathe! The generous Abundant Life is in you.