Amazing Grace & Abundant Life

I remember when I first “got saved” and accepted Jesus as “my personal Savior”. All the enthusiasm I had for evangelism; wanting everyone to know what I now knew. The excitement with which I responded to God and to the revelation that Jesus offered “abundant life” to those who believe.

As time wore on, some of that fire died down. The flame didn’t go out, but it did mellow. Life got busy. I still believed. I still followed Him, but Grace became more of a doctrinal understanding than a way of life, or a way to life, and I didn’t describe that daily walk in grace as amazing or joyful. Life got dry, dull, tedious and monotonous.

I am often reminded that He came to bring us life, and not just life, but “abundant life”.

That sounds very different from the ordinary ho-hum daily grind we so often experience, doesn’t it? A brother shared with me a definition he says he received from the Lord and it is this:

Life – the experience of existing in this realm without the hindrance of time, resources or circumstances.

The concordance gives this definition for grace:

Grace – the divine influence upon the heart and the outward reflection thereof.

Imagine, if you can, being so dependant, so trusting, in Father for His provision of your every need, that you could go about doing Kingdom work [walking in grace] without any concern whatsoever over schedules, appointments (time), money, food, shelter (resources), health, family, job, bills, obligations (circumstances) [abundant life].

Can you imagine that kind of freedom; that kind of abundant life; that kind of walk in grace?

So, how do we get to that place? For each of us, God seems to allow that hunger to grow in different ways. We slowly become dissatisfied with what we have of Him and what we know of Him and we want more. We dig deeper.

If you had to describe your current spiritual life, what words would you choose?

Dry, Saturated, Boring, Encouraged, Lonely, Fulfilling, Exciting, Overwhelming, Challenging, Tiresome, Busy, Easy, Joyful, Hard, Ever Changing

Many people think God is disgusted with them as they fail in their Christian walk, but in actuality, God sees our failures as opportunities for Him to work in us. Through our sense of being utterly hopeless, God is able to bring us to the end of our natural selves; and it is at the end of ourselves where we find Him.

The frustrated church worker believes that being a good Christian means dedicating his own fleshly work to God, when in reality, true Christian work is Father Himself doing the work through a totally yielded person. The compulsion to want to do what God wants done isn’t a new one. Just look at Abraham and Sarah. When God told them they would have a son, they were excited, and although they believed God, they thought He needed their help in fulfilling the promise. All they really did was to make a mess and complicate things. Right up to this very day there is still centuries-old conflict between the Arabs and the Jews.

Trying to do Father’s work through our own efforts always produces conflict. Father weans us of our self-reliance by using adversity. His goal for us is brokenness. We will never understand that Father doesn’t want to give us strength until we are faced with troubles that are so overwhelming that we realize we can’t handle them in our own strength. Why? Because He wants to be our strength. While this breaking-down process is painful, it can’t be avoided if a Christian is to experience maximum usefulness in service to Father.

We are so busy trying to live for God when what He really wants is to live His life through us. Asking God to help us live for Him is to request some sort of divine blessing on our effort to do what He wants us to do. The difference is working for Him verses resting in Him and trusting Him to do through us what He wants done. The difference is law & grace. The law says, “Help me do things right and stick to your rules”, whereas grace says, “I am abiding in You and You in me. Express Your life through me in any way You desire.”

Remember the definition of grace? The divine influence upon the heart and the outward reflection thereof. Much like the moon, having no light of its own, but reflects the sun to the earth; so are we without our own light, and we are to reflect the Son into the world.

It is the difference between doing and resting. It is the difference between law and grace. It is the difference between going to church and being the church. It is the difference between working for God and letting Father have is way through you. Mary and Martha.

I think maybe when we let go and let God, when we stop trying and start trusting, when we stop striving and start resting… Maybe that’s when we discover this abundant life without hindrances.

Thoughts? Comments? Discussions?