How to Live Life To The Full
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
In the context of this verse Jesus talks about sheep and calls himself the good Shepherd. He also calls himself the door. If a sheep walked through that door, it would find pasture. The thief does not come through the door, but climbs in some other way. And when he comes, he tries to harm the sheep. To steal them away from the Shepherd.
Jesus says that He came to give these sheep life. He will lead them to green pastures, and fresh water, and will protect them. (See Psalm 23) But not only that: He uses the word ‘abundantly’. This means He wants to give even more than is necessary. He wants to give until it overflows.
In this story we are the sheep. We have a Shepherd who takes such good care of us, He protects us and leads us to the right places and wants to bless us abundantly.
But the thief, the devil, comes and tries to steal all we have, he tries to kill us and scare us so we won’t enjoy life at all.
So a good question to ask ourselves is: Are we living the life the Good Shepherd wants for us or are we living the one that the enemy wants us to have?
Of course we want to follow the Shepherd and enjoy all He gives us, but sometimes we don’t realize how much we let the enemy steal from us. Things like our peace and our trust in God. We often stay in the sheepfold where we feel safe. We hear Jesus calling us. He wants us to go out through the Door, through Him and trust that He will protect us. And we want to follow Him so we get up, but when we get near the door we hear the enemy say: “Don’t be dumb, why would you go out there? There’s only more danger there.” And we wonder what to do.
And that’s exactly the moment to really follow Jesus. The enemy only has our harm on his mind, Jesus has life abundant for us. Who do you trust more?
Let’s follow our good Shepherd and explore the wonderful life He has for us.
