Wanting for nothing
Before the Lord Jesus, we were all lost in our trespasses and sins. Ephesians 2:1 refers to this as being dead. Our sin had separated us from God, and, in that state, we were unable to commune with Him. This spiritual darkness has defined every human being since Adam and still grips the world in which we live. This is why the Lord Jesus came. Without His intervention, the lost condition of mankind would be inescapable. But Christ came to be the propitiation for our sins and to pay the awful price that was infinitely beyond our ability to pay.
All who choose to accept Him and His atoning work are no longer counted among those described above—those who are forever lost. By submitting to death on the cross of Calvary, Christ has freed us from it. In exchange, He has given us His life. What wondrous grace!
Life! Is this not enough? Is this alone not sufficient cause for us to give Him praise and worship for all of eternity? Although it is, He demonstrated His transcendent love by not only dying to give us life, but to give us abundant life. Satan is a thief and a robber who takes, steals, and depletes us in every way. The Lord only gives. He takes nothing and gives everything. And, beyond giving us a gift that we in no way deserve, He gives to us in abundance.
Receiving the new life that Christ offers is a complete transaction that takes place at the very moment we believe but entering into the full abundance of that life is an ongoing process. Upon receiving the salvation of the Lord, we are immediately adopted into the family of God and are given access to all the riches of heaven. And yet, sad to say, there are so many believers who are not experiencing the joy of their salvation. There are so many who are wallowing in a miserable state, living as paupers while having access to infinite riches.
What is abundance?
The word abundance can be defined in any number of ways but every definition will carry with it the idea of wealth in both quality and quantity. Abundance is wanting for nothing. It is being completely satisfied. It is knowing that all your needs will be met both now and into the future.
The more abundant life that the Lord speaks of is the eternal life which begins at conversion. It is life without death or even the fear of death. It is life and much more. To the natural man, there is the tendency to think of abundance in a material form only. But to do so would be to miss out on the depth of blessing which the Lord desires for us. The Lord is not restricted by our short-sightedness and vanity. It is the eternal that the Lord has in view, not merely the temporal.
It is neither reasonable nor scriptural to believe that the level of a man’s wealth or health are indicators of his standing before the Lord. This truth is demonstrated in the gospel accounts of the rich young ruler and John the Baptist. The ruler had much of the abundance of this life and yet walked away from the Lord empty. John, the one sent from God to prepare the way for the Lord, lived in the wilderness, was clothed in camel hair, and ate wild honey and locusts. Not what we might consider to be an abundant life!
Although the Lord, in His grace, may see fit to allow a certain measure of temporal health and wealth, the Lord Jesus has immeasurably more for us than that which corrupts or passes away. The abundance that the Lord speaks of is something outside of human reason; it is not measurable by human standards; it is not limited to space and time. Indeed, it is far better than what we could think of or ask for. The abundance of the Christian life is a spiritual blessing that flows from the living God to His people and can be glimpsed by others through the peace of the saints: in the face of adversity, in the joy of God’s people in times of persecution, in the comfort of believers while others are inconsolable.
We enter into this abundant life at the moment of our conversion, and we can begin to experience it immediately. We enjoy more of it as we grow spiritually and learn to walk by faith. In our present state, we only experience a small degree of what is ours in the Lord. We continue to struggle against the old. However, the day is coming when the Lord will return to take us out of this scene of time and sin, and then we will fully know the life of abundance that the Lord purchased for us. We will see how far short all of our words came in attempting to describe what He has done for us and what He has given to us!
What is the source of this abundant life?
“In Him was life; and the life was the light of men” (Jn. 1:4). When He said, “I am the way the truth and the life” (Jn. 14:6), the Lord Jesus made it very clear that life comes from Him. He is the source. How much plainer could it be? “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish” (Jn. 10:28). His desire is that we accept the life He offers and that we live that life to its full. And so it is that He pours life into us to the degree that we allow Him.
The Lord is the vine. As branches, we draw our life from Him when we abide in Him and allow Him to abide in us. This is accomplished by practicing faith, trusting Him and His word, and conducting ourselves in accordance with His word; that is to say, by leaning not unto our own understanding but trusting in Him alone. In the words of John the Baptist, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn. 3:30). This is the key to the more abundant life. To the degree that we abide in Him, walk in obedience to Him, and surrender our lives to Him, we will have life more abundantly.
“That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” (Eph. 3:17-21)