Are you living the abundant life?
Are you living the abundant life?
An abundant life – not an abundance life. There’s a significant difference between the two. Many of us middle class North American’s are living the abundance life. We have more things than ever. Bigger televisions that grow smarter every day. Technology laden cars telling us when we’ve drifted out of our lane or applying our brakes when someone in front of us stops suddenly. Computers more powerful than the ones that helped land men on the moon are held in the palms of our hands Yet, for all our stuff, Henry David Thoreau’s nineteenth century dictum that “The mass of men [and women] lead lives of quiet desperation” is still true.
Perhaps our lack of happiness or sense that our lives are less than they could be is because our abundance life is rooted in transient things. A dip in the economy can wipe out a lifetime of savings. Trade wars can raise the cost of goods to unaffordable levels, result in the elimination of jobs, put farmers out of business, and more. Plus, all these televisions, tablets, phones, cars, clothes are constantly being replaced by new and better ones. Advertising, social media, and the like tell us we must have them. And, judging by our buying habits, we believe it.
None of the above will bring me the abundant life, though. When I am silent and still, I realize that the abundant life is a spiritual state of being. The abundance life is an acquisitional way of living.
The abundant life that Jesus came to give us reveals itself in things such as love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. What will bring them is growing into the person God created me to be, doing the work God meant me to do, being in the relationships I am supposed to have, and so on. I believe that the abundant life is found in four essential ideals. They can guide us into the life Jesus promised if we incorporate them into our daily lives. Those four ideals are beauty, truth, life, and love.
Beauty, truth, life, and love move us beyond doing life and faith correctly into doing them well. Beauty, truth, life, and love are centered in the very essence of the life God desires for us to live. That’s because they are the very essence of God. Yet, we often neglect beauty, truth, life, and love as we think about our walk with God. We rarely look for them when we consider what God wants for us.
I don’t claim to have arrived at the perfectly abundant life. I am human and continue to make mistakes … or downright failures. Yet, in many ways, I have a deeper sense of life satisfaction, contentment, and happiness since I’ve sought to live a life of beauty, truth, life, and love.
I believe you will, too.
Excerpt from Beauty, Truth, Life, and Love by Brent Bill