{"id":4409,"date":"2018-02-18T09:00:46","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4409"},"modified":"2018-02-03T10:32:33","modified_gmt":"2018-02-03T16:32:33","slug":"choose-to-live-the-abundant-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4409","title":{"rendered":"Choose to Live the Abundant Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yet Another Year of Choices<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren<\/em><\/p>\n

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Christ came so we might have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) Some modern ministers lead us to believe this refers to wealth and prosperity, encouraging people to go boldly before God and claim this promised abundance. These \u201chealth and wealth\u201d and\/or \u201cname it and claim it\u201d preachers measure faith by how much God blesses us materially.<\/p>\n

However, God is not the big “sugar daddy” in the sky, ready to give us everything we want. We may prayerfully sing, “Oh Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz” and we might get it, but that doesn’t mean God gave it to us.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In fact, Jesus said that a man’s life does not consist of the abundance of the things he might possess. (Luke 12:15) If we seek first the kingdom of God,we won’t have to be overly concerned about such matters. (Matthew 6:31-33) If we humble ourselves before Him, He will exalt us when the time is right. (1 Peter 5:6-7)\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Now don\u2019t get me wrong. I’m not saying an abundant life precludes riches or worldly success, but it does not depend on it either. Paul knew this better than anyone. He knew how to be abased or exalted, have a full tummy or an empty one, to abound or suffer \u2013 and through it all be content and give thanks. (Philippians 4:11-13; Ephesians 5:20) In other words, we can experience the abundant life even if we are dealing with family trials, poor as church mice, or at the bottom of the workforce food chain.<\/p>\n

John 10:10 tells us the reason Jesus came was so we could have life (eternal life, everlasting life, life without fear of death). The phrase “more abundantly” is the Greek word “perissos” meaning “beyond, more, and above measure.” It refers back to the word “life.” Not only did Jesus come to give us eternal life, but even more than that, He lives His life within us right now. His very presence in us adds something immeasurable to our existence. He is what makes our life worth living in spite of how much money we have in the bank.<\/p>\n

If we read the whole passage of John 10, we see it’s about Jesus being our\u00a0shepherd, the sheep hearing His voice, and Jesus being our\u00a0open door. The whole context refers to us having access to God. And that, my friend, is what the more abundant life is all about. Not only do we get eternal life, but as an added bonus we have the opportunity to build a relationship with Jesus Christ \u2013 the very One who makes it all possible.<\/p>\n

Man views abundance in terms of physical possessions. God has a different perspective. His abundant life is filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control, compassion, humility, character, wisdom, enthusiasm, dignity, optimism, confidence, honesty, and a relationship with Him. In other words, the more abundant life is full of all the things money can\u2019t buy. No matter how much money we have, we cannot buy more patience, wisdom, hope, self-control, or salvation!<\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026 Money cannot buy us a “more abundant” life, but God can give it to us if we let Him. The more we open our hearts to God, the more abundant our lives will be.<\/p>\n

One final thought\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abundance is not always about having more; sometimes it\u2019s about having enough.<\/p>\n

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Yet Another Year of Choices By Barbara Dahlgren Christ came so we might have life and have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) Some modern ministers lead us to believe this refers to wealth and prosperity, encouraging people to go boldly … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}