“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.
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