Abundant Life in Christ: How to Live It

The hayfield has been reduced to prickly stubble, and I wonder if the lush roots grieve what’s been lost. As the geese honk overhead, I stare at the sky and ask God to lead me into a more abundant life in Christ.

A gentle breeze brushes against my skin, and a familiar face comes to mind.

He’s a cashier at a store I visit often.

Customers casually ask how he’s doing, and he always makes the same comment: “Livin’ the dream.”

According to an online dictionary, the term “living the dream” refers to “a life in which a person experiences the achievement of every success that one has aspired to.” I consider this definition and wonder how many people really ever “live the dream.” Our lives have a way of slipping by without the culmination of success we envisioned when we were younger.

Finding the Abundant Life in Christ

Later in the evening, I pull out my Bible to explore what it means to live the abundant life in Christ. How do we walk in this abundance in our everyday lives?

Here’s what I find: Christ’s definition of abundance is quite different from the definition of the world around us.

Let’s take a closer look at three Bible verses about the abundant life:

3 Powerful Scriptures on the Abundant Life in Christ

1. We find the abundance we crave through knowing Jesus.

The apostle Paul wrote these words to the Philippian church after listing his worldly accomplishments: “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

These words draw a hard line.

According to Scripture, I find abundance when my worldly accomplishments are rubbish compared to the high calling of knowing my Lord more intimately. I’m living abundantly when the most important goal in my life is experiencing Jesus. He wants me to draw close to him in my everyday moments and walk closely with him. This is abundance.

2. Abundance found by putting others’ needs above mine.

In John 15:12-13, Jesus speaks these words: “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.”

Jesus literally laid down his life as a demonstration of his love for a broken world. We each face opportunities to lay our lives down as well. I lay my life down when I sacrifice my comfort for the sake of someone else. I lay it down when I get off the couch and play on the floor with my kids or cook a meal for a friend.

Laying down our lives includes loving well when loving well doesn’t come easily. I lay down my life when I forgive the friend who refuses to tell me she’s sorry. I lay it down every time I look to someone else’s needs before my own. It seems paradoxical, but the more we learn to lay down our lives for others, the more abundant and fulfilling our lives become.

The abundant life is found by giving yourself away for the sake of others #Abundance #followingJesus #seekingGod Click To Tweet

3. The abundant life in Christ is found when we are willing to follow him at all costs.

In Matthew 19:29, Jesus speaks these words: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

Most of us won’t be called to leave our homelands and families behind. Nonetheless, there is always a cost to following Christ. He will call us to lay down old lifestyle choices, habits, and ways of perceiving the world. He will ask us to trade our dreams for his and align our attitudes with his. We step into greater abundance in Christ when we are willing to follow him absolutely anywhere.

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