The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10
The most valuable thing a thief can steal is our inspiration to keep on living our story. The material he takes can be replaced but a stolen inspiration leads to the certain death of the story of our life.
Jesus came to make our inner life safe from all those who would steal our inner inspiration to live and to love. This continuous inner inspiration in Jesus is the abundant life.
To live the abundant life, essence must come before effort. Our essence is who we are in Jesus and what we have in Jesus. We keep the thief out of our life when our essence is beyond his reach. The only way to keep our essence out of his reach is to abide in Christ moment by moment.
Most people who are good observers of human nature would agree that we need to be and have some kind of an inner inspiration in order to do something memorable with our lives. In fact, the most inspiring stories among all cultures and religions are those which describe a person who overcame enormous odds because of some inner being and having that won the day. A Mother Teresa inspires because her inner life prevailed in the face of such immense poverty in India. Because no thief could steal her inspiration the narrative she told with her life is so powerful it continues to inspire even after her death.
When Jesus said that He came to give us abundant life, it is clear He was not speaking about giving every disciple an abundance of material things no one could steal and with which they could do what they wanted to do. He was talking about giving each disciple a permanent and safe spiritual abundance at the level of their inner being and inner having. He came to inspire in each disciple a very particular kind of doing called love. Jesus knew it takes abundant inner life no thief could steal to love like He loved.
Looking back over the last 2000 years of the Christian experience it is clear that the true and memorable Christian narratives are the ones which describe time and time again what happens when disciples live inspired lives of being and having while in union with Christ. As much as some have tried to make Christianity about doing in order to be and to have, this human effort narrative just never works. Thank God for that!
Right at this moment every believer in Christ has the perfect presence and abundance of Jesus in them by the Holy Spirit. No thief can reach this place and steal this abundance. If we would do something that actually would create a story worth remembering, then we must start in this inner abundance. When we start in Jesus, the doing will happen and the narrative of our lives will inspire others.
Truly, being and having must come before doing and seeing the results. Just how sure are you of who you are and what you have in Jesus right now? The answer to that question will determine what kind of story you are telling as you live and it will determine how long your story and life will bless others.
Write a brand new, unique Christian narrative as you abide in Jesus! No one else could ever write your story of being and having in Jesus.
Remember, no thief can steal who your are what you have in Jesus. Write your story!
Bud McCord
Abide International
No comments:
Post a Comment