John 10:10 – “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.”
In our study of the Scriptures, we learn that God desires to bless His children. Proverbs 10:22 says, “The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.” A blessed life will be an abundant life. To be blessed “speaks of our inner state of well-being, the prosperity of our souls in Christ. Blessedness comes from unhindered fellowship with God the Father through our Lord Jesus. To be blessed is to experience the full impact of God’s presence in our lives now and for all eternity.”[1]
John 10:10 from the Message Bible reads, “A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” The New Living Translation says, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” An abundant life is a better life, a life that is rich and satisfying.
Jesse Dixon defines the abundant life, the life of the Lord Jesus Himself, imparted to us and lived in and through us by the Holy Spirit. The abundant life is the same life of fullness and abundance that possessed His human body when He was upon the earth, imparted to us and received by us by faith, and reproduced in and through us.”[2]
To experience what John 10:10 calls “more abundantly” we must press into God. We must pursue His presence. The abundant life is a life of intimate fellowship with the Father. Jeremiah 17:7 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.” Jesus came so we may experience an abundant life. The abundant life is not dependent upon the current economic conditions. God can make the impossible possible. His desire is to bless us and bring us into this rich satisfying life.
[1]What Does it Mean to Live a Blessed Life, Bible Portal Starr, https://bibleportal.com/articles/what-does-it-mean-to-be-blessed
[2] Dixon, Jesse, The Life More Abundant Bible Study, Words of Life Ministries, West Memphis, AR.
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