JESUS CAME TO HELP you and me experience deep, unending life.
The gospel of John brims over with signs of life. You might call John 10:10, near the very center of John’s testimony, the spinal cord of the book: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).
We really have no concept of how much Satan, the thief, hates aliveness. He has come to pickpocket it. He has come to steal away and stamp out life wherever he sees it. One way a person defeats an enemy is to destroy something or someone the enemy prizes. God prizes people and abundant aliveness, so Satan fights against people and resists every increase of aliveness. That battle surfaced in a synagogue when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath.
Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” (Luke 6:9). See that? Doing good is saving life. Doing evil is destroying life.
What is true in the New Testament of the Bible is also true in the Old Testament. In the book of Genesis we read: “Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people” (Genesis 50:20, msg). Joseph’s dream was to be a leader who gave life and saved lives. As the years passed, he grew into that dream and it became an actuality.
Jesus came to do good, to give us deep, unending aliveness. “I have come that they may have life….” There are dimensions of good and evil. Good is light, evil is darkness. Good is truth, evil is deception. Good is pure, evil is corrupt. Good is life, evil is death. The second half of John 10:10 speaks of good, while the first half speaks of evil. All through the Bible, good is anything that helps people connect with God’s aliveness. In contrast, evil is anything that disconnects people from God’s aliveness.
Addressing the subject of life itself, Jesus spoke of those who “… and have it to the full.” What is this full life that Jesus spoke of? The New Living Testament calls it “a rich and satisfying life.” The Living Bible calls it “life in all its fullness.” The King James translation calls it “abundant life.” The Message paraphrase calls it “more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” Plentiful, rich, vital, lavish life.
Interested?
Life Question: Set your mind to do one good thing today—one thing that helps someone become a bit more alive.