What is the secret to the abundant life?

 John 10:10 shows us two paths that we can walk on as we journey through life. 

"The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus'  purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

The first part of the verse gives us Satan's plan for our life. He wants to kill our body, steal our joy, and destroy our marriages and families.

The second part of the verse shows us God's plan for our lives.

If God's plan is for us  to have a rich, full, and abundant life, how can we make that happen?

That's a question that should be foremost on everyone's mind.

In  the 12th chapter of Romans, Paul gives us instructions on how to make that happen.

"And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Romans 12:1

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." Romans 12:2

The first point that he makes is for us to give ourselves completely to God and then he says not to copy the behavior and customs of this world.

Did you catch the contrast in these two points?

Let's go back to the beginning and see how we got ourselves into this fix.

As we look back at Genesis we see God showing Adam around the garden. As they come to the middle of the garden he shows Adam two trees. Genesis 2:9 "The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed The tree of life and The tree of the knowledge of good and evil." 

It was God's plan that his children eat from The tree of life so that they could have a rich,  full, and abundant life. Remember John 10:10?

He warned Adam not to eat from the second tree as that curses one with The knowledge of good and evil.

The custom and behavior of this world is to take full control of our lives so that we can make the decisions as to what's best for us. No one can decide for us what is right and wrong.

You know the story, you know what their choice was. Given the temptation to make their own choices was too much for Adam and Eve and they made the carnal, worldly choice.

"I want to be able to choose between good and evil because I know what's best for me." They chose the way of the World.

Here is the result of a recent survey of 1000 evangelical pastors. 39% of these pastors said, "There is no absolute moral truth and each individual must determine their own truth." And here is the result of such belief, Over 1/3 of the surveyed pastors believe "Good people" can earn their way into heaven. That makes GRACE pretty cheap.

Jumping back to the book of Romans again in chapter 12 verse 3 we find Paul warning us, "Don't think that you are better than you really are."

The World's ways, customs, habits, reasoning, and wisdom have no room for God's plan for our lives. 

Here is a subtle truth: If we are following the world's wisdom in our choices instead of looking for God's wisdom and guidance, then we are EATING FROM THE WRONG TREE.

God has made each of us uniquely with a unique personality and he has gifted each of us to compliment our personality.

If we use our unique God given gifts to compliment the gifts that he has given to our Christian brothers and sisters we will be like a healthy body with all parts functioning in accordance with our abilities and strengths.

The abundant life is found when we are eating from THE TREE OF LIFE in the center of the garden, in the center of God's will doing his will.

Here is the sad truth. There is a very narrow path leading to THE TREE OF LIFE, whereas the path leading to the other tree is well worn and wide. Matthew 7:13.

 Proverbs 4:27 tells us that the narrow path described in Matthew 7 is very narrow, its only one footprint wide.  "Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."

In a healthy body all of the parts compliment each other to allow the body to function as it was designed to so that it can reach its full potential.

A healthy Christian compliments the other members of his church body so it can reach its full potential.