Abundant Life: Blessing and Suffering

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” –John 10:10

When we hear the words of Christ speaking of “abundant” life, how often do we pause to consider the negative?  “Negative of what?” you may ask.  Why, the negative of having “more” of life.  Often believers focus strictly on the blessings inherent in this statement.  Sometimes we even go overboard and treat it as a divine allowance given for the sake of our worldly pleasure.  What I have rarely ever heard mentioned, however, is the downside of having more life.

Ultimately, of course, the abundant life promised to the believer finds its fulfillment in eternity, where we shall live forever in the light of Him who saved us by His grace, for His glory.  That is truly abundance, a life that does not end combined with the unimaginable blessing of the presence of the God who loves us.

Now, certainly those blessings also extend to this present life.  The problem is that in this life we ought to consider that many blessings will often bring hardships as well; we live in a fallen world, and in a fallen world that opposes God, God’s children will also be opposed and oppressed.  Jesus is up front with us about this, warning us in John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”  As followers of Jesus we are guaranteed persecution, just like Jesus was persecuted.  This is a special hardship that life presents to believers.  “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19)

Nobody likes to focus on hardship.  We don’t like to suffer, don’t like persecution.  We, like the rest of the world, like blessing.  We all want to live the “good life”, and there is a danger to assume that because we are children of God, that’s what we’ll have.  After all, God takes care of His own, right?  So who better to have a good, “abundant” life?  Doesn’t God promise to bless His children?  Shouldn’t we, of all mankind, experience health, wealth and happiness?

Certainly God promises blessing.  He promises blessing beyond what your earthly mind is capable of conceiving.  What He does not promise is that we will receive all of these things in the present life.  Often we, as believers, behave more like the prodigal son, who desired his father’s inheritance immediately, and demanded it without willing to wait for the proper time.  Likewise, we often desire and even claim entitlement to the blessing God has promised us, without regard for God’s own good timing.  But we cannot blame God for this misconception; He is open to all who come to Him that hardship will present itself to us in this life.

If you want proof of this, you need look no farther than the Apostles, who followed Christ to the end…an end that in most cases was filled with hardship, pain and death at the hands of persecutors.  Hardly the “good life” we wish to claim, but they looked to a greater reward, with no false notion that it would be received on this side of Heaven.  Indeed, the future reward was so great in their eyes that Paul exclaimed “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18).  Who better to make that claim than Paul, who was beaten and imprisoned multiple times and ultimately executed for his testimony?  Yet, why is it that Paul endured so much suffering?  Was Paul’s faith not strong enough?  Did he not lay claim to the promises of God for his life?

Certainly he did.  He laid claim to God’s promise for his life until the very end: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11,12)

Often we fail to realize that as long as we’re on this planet, life will always carry hardship and suffering.  Being a child of God does not exempt you from that; indeed, scripture is clear that being a child of God will invite more suffering into your life.  Does Jesus give us abundant life?  Certainly, abundant in every respect: the blessings of being God’s child combined with the hatred of the world.  If we read abundant in the form of blessing only, we are correct only if we read it in the future tense.  If we read it in the present tense, then we must consider it alongside the statement of Jesus in Mark 10:30: “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (emphasis mine).  Certainly we are blessed by God, right now, as His children, but persecutions, trials and sufferings will come alongside those blessings, and in the future, we will experience the full outpouring of blessing, blessing that Paul exclaimed was not worth comparing to the suffering we experience now.

Should the believer long for the abundant life that Christ gives?  Absolutely.  But he should do so with his eyes open.  It is like when a man asks for patience, but does not want to endure the hardships that cultivate it.  If we long for the blessings of God, then in this life we must also be willing to endure hardship.  Jesus promises us trouble in this life, but the wonderful thing is that He also promises to walk through our trials with us, to take us by the hand, lead us, guide us, and strengthen us through the troubles that life brings. “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33b)

If we come to Jesus so that we might receive the blessings God promises, and if we expect those blessings now, in full, health and wealth and freedom in this life, then our hearts are like the rocky soil Jesus described in Matthew 13, which receives the word of God gladly, then, “when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away”.  Let us look instead to our heavenly reward, which is far better, and hold fast our faith in God for the abundant love He has shown to us sinners by giving us the gift of His Son, for this is the truest, greatest blessing we will ever receive, whether in this world or the one to come.

Infants Secure in the Father's Hands

"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." -Matthew 7:11

If we think of ourselves as men and women who do both good and bad things, then we fail to understand our relationship to God. The fact is that apart from God granting us grace and faith in Him, we can do no good deeds. A man may do something with a good effect, such as helping the poor or saving a life, but although these things outwardly conform to God's will, inwardly the heart that does anything without acknowledging God's sovereignty is acting in rebellion to its created purpose, and thus all actions are sinful, whatever good effect may result from them. Still, even to think of ourselves as men and women who do evil fails to grasp our position before God, because as we stand before God, we are not men and women at all, nor are we children; we are infants, dependent upon Him in every respect for our life, unable to grasp the understanding and reason that is His.  This being the case, why does He care for such infantile, wicked creatures?

The reason behind His love and grace I cannot explain, except to say, as Scripture does, that His ways are higher than ours and beyond finding out.  But an illustration came to me this morning which was useful to me in considering how incredible and true the love of God is: I have a daughter who is just one and a half months old.  She is dependent upon her mother and myself for everything. She cannot eat, cannot dress herself, cannot keep herself clean or warm, cannot move from place to place unless we carry her. Even communication is beyond her grasp, as her greatest articulation is an inarticulate cry. She is altogether helpless, and if her mother and I were to remove our care from her, it would be her end. This being the case, why should we care for her? What does she provide us? It is all well and good to say that she provides us joy, but she also provides a great deal of work, sleepless nights and days spent entirely providing for her needs, each and every moment. The fact of the matter is, we were happy before she was born, would have continued to be happy without her, and there is nothing that we do not have that she provides for us in any practical sense. Despite this, my wife and I love her with every fiber of our being, would willingly place ourselves in the path of any harm in order to protect her, and begrudge her none of her complete dependence upon us. There is no pain, even unto death, that we would not endure for her sake.

Even this is an imperfect illustration of God’s love for us, for though she does not provide us with any practical benefit, yet she does have the advantage of being altogether adorable. In the midst of her needs, her cries, her spitting up and soiling her garments, the look of recognition in her eyes when she sees us, the smile that parts her lips and the occasional laugh provide a joy that cannot be explained. She is helpless, but she is beautiful all the same. Yet, as beings created in the image of God we possess an imagination that can see and evaluate things that are not reality, but which could be under different circumstances. I can imagine that my daughter is not beautiful, does not smile, does not laugh, does not recognize me. I can imagine that, from her birth, she would scream and cry and bite if I touch her, irrationally fearing and hating me. I can imagine that her disposition toward me is so sour that keeping her clean from her own waste is nearly impossible for the trauma it causes and the fight she puts up. I can imagine that she is unsightly, smelly and violent. And yet, for all of this imagining, there is one thing that I cannot imagine: that I should not love her. I find within myself a predisposition to love this little girl that has nothing to do with how beautiful she is in my eyes or how bright her smile. She is mine, my own offspring, and whether beautiful or homely, bright and happy or dark and violent, I find that I cannot imagine any possibility within my heart except love. Indeed, the only effect that I can conceive were her behavior and disposition altogether different from what it is, is heartbreak. Complete, utter, devastating heartbreak that she would hate me, fear me, thrash and scream and cry at my touch. I could be hurt, but I could not cease to love.  And if, in my love and care, that wretched little creature were to collapse in my arms, exhausted, and stop fighting but rest against my chest, I know for certain that my heart would melt within me as surely as it does when my true daughter looks at me and smiles.

This is our condition before God.  We are all of us wretched infants, irrationally fighting against God with every aspect of our being, yet He, our Father, cares for us still, provides for us and sustains us.  If we cease our fighting against Him, by the grace which He works within us (for, irrational things that we are, we cannot understand or cease our struggle without His giving this grace to us), He will hold us tightly and never, ever let us go.  As a parent, He has already placed Himself in harm’s way for our sake, enduring the pain and suffering of the cross, and doing it willingly, as an earthly mother or father would take a bullet for the sake of their child.  As a parent, He holds tightly to His children, loving and saving them despite their own actions.  Once He has given us His grace in salvation, we are capable of truly doing good, of performing acts that bring joy to the Father’s heart, not because they outwardly align with His will, but because they are in response to His love, and express love back to Him.  At that point we have ceased to be wretched, and now, though still infants, are infants in the sense that my daughter lives out every day. We are still dependent, helpless, prone to cry, to soil ourselves and to fuss, but also prone to smile, to laugh and to love. No matter how messy we may become, no matter how much we may cry, no matter the fussing or the fighting, from that point on we are truly God’s own children and offspring, and God will never disown us, never let us go.  To think that God would let a child of His leave His care is like suggesting that I, as an earthly parent, would cease caring for my daughter because she became too difficult.  To suggest that we ourselves, as “free agents” can, having experienced the salvation of God, then willfully choose to walk away from that salvation is like suggesting that my ceasing to care for my daughter is entirely her own fault. No, she is an infant, and I care for her out of my own love, not in response to her behavior. It is not only an irrational argument to place the responsibility for my care upon her own shoulders, but it is insulting to me as a parent to suggest that I would care for her for any reason except out of the unconditional love that I bear for her within my heart. And so it is with God.

Knowing this, let us cease all fear and fighting,  and simply rest against the breast of our Father, knowing that our future, our life, our everything is secure within His loving hands.