The Key to Abundant Living

Some days I step outside my front door and feel the warm sunshine on my face and the gentle breeze brush across my skin, and I am overwhelmed with gratitude.  Just the ability to experience a particularly beautiful day is an amazing gift, and it makes me grateful to exist in this world.  This past weekend I spent a couple hours floating down a peaceful river, surrounded by majestic scenery, under a sunny sky, in the company of kind friends and two of my children. It was wonderful!

At night, I lay my head down on a soft pillow, in a comfortable bed, where I feel safe.  Again, I count these things as remarkable gifts.

But I have to ask myself, "Would I be so grateful if my circumstances were much different?  Would I still be in awe of the handiwork of the Creator if the view outside my front door was different?"  I can't answer those questions with certainty, but I'd like to think that I would.  Sure, I have fears and worries and doubts, and there are days where I allow my perspective to be skewed.  There are days when I find myself grumbling and complaining about things that have no real consequence.  But, even on those days, I have an abiding joy.

Joy is a hallmark, but not the source of, an abundant life.  So, what does it mean to live abundantly and how do we do it?  One of the definitions for the word 'abundant' is, "Richly supplied, as with resources".  When I think about that definition, it occurs to me that abundant living is not measured by tangible resources.  Living abundantly means having a completeness and fullness in life that does not depend on circumstances.  Abundant living is being richly supplied in resources that transcend our natural understanding.  The key to abundant living is recognizing the source.​

In John 10:10, Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”  Jesus does not merely supply us with abundance.  He IS our abundance.  Jesus doesn’t simply give us joy.  He IS our joy.  As children of God, we must recognize that even the ability to feel the emotions we associate with the idea of abundance comes from Him.

Abundant living comes from fellowship with the God of the universe, through Christ.  Ephesians 3:19 says, "And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."  I can experience joy and have gratitude for of all the blessings of life around me- the natural world, the love of my family, my earthly pleasures- but the true source of abundance is the fullness of God.

Did my experience on the river this weekend qualify as living abundantly?  Sure- but only by extension.  It is the relationship I have with God, which reveals the truth of His goodness, that allows me to truly enjoy this life and appreciate the beauty He has provided.  Having a relationship with God, in itself, is living abundantly. ​

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