By GFI board member, Randy Stahmer
John 10:10 says, “Jesus came so that we might have LIFE and have it to the full”. There is life (as we know it) and there is the ‘fullness’ of life. In this blog, I will attempt to briefly describe both.
This is the month of April and the month when spring in Nebraska comes into full bloom. It is the month we celebrate Easter, the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. It is the month where the trees bud, the grass greens up, the bunnies bounce in your yard and the squirrels dig up those precious acorns that they buried last fall. Birds return and start to sing. The days grow longer and the sun warms your face. Spring rains are a welcome sign of the end of winter. Flowers and yard work begin to take center stage. Thank you, Lord, for sending your only Son, for your creation and our opportunity to witness to this cycle of LIFE in such a magnificent way.
While spring is our ‘normal’ evidence of new life here in the Midwest, new life does go on around the clock. Over the past fall and long winter months, my family grew. In September, my son and his wife had a baby named Clara. And, just this past February, my daughter had her third child, Emma Marie. The birth of two new granddaughters is such a joy and delight that words cannot express. This new life causes me to wonder about the origins of our human form.
When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man (Adam) became a living being. For Adam, there was no suitable helper. So, the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman’ for she was taken out of man”.
This is how LIFE on planet Earth began. The Lord God breathed LIFE into Adam and made Eve from Adam’s rib. How amazing is that? It doesn’t end there. Everyone knows that the original man (and woman) fell into the temptation of the deceiver and that all of mankind (the offspring of Adam and Eve) have had to suffer with the affliction of sin throughout their daily existence. Even today, little Clara and Emma Marie are faced with this curse, as hard as that is to believe.
While the Lord is the author of life, he does not pound his fist on the table and demand that his creation follow Him. In His grace and mercy, He gives His children a choice. He gives direction (through His Word) and a promise to never leave us nor forsake us. We will be His children and He will be our God. But remember, we are not God. We don’t actually ‘create’ life, nor can we save ourselves. Only the One who gives LIFE can resurrect the dead and bring man back to life. Our only hope of life eternal is through faith in Jesus. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
I think that might adequately explain the essence of LIFE, but what does the fullness of LIFE really mean? To answer that question, I need to interject an opposing concept. The opposite of fullness may best be described as a chasm or infinite emptiness. In both concepts, there is also the key element of time. Eternity is the measure of time. Eternally in the presence of God (i.e., fullness) or eternally outside of the presence of God (i.e., emptiness). Forever and ever, etc.
As difficult as it might be to fathom God and His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence, it is equally difficult to fathom the word eternity. Consider this. The sun and moon and the stars are no accident. The universe is no accident. The earth is no accident. Heaven is no accident. Hell is no accident. The grass withers and the flowers fall season after season, but only the Word of God endures forever. Humankind is alive on the face of the earth for only a short time. To the Creator, He is without time. With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day (2 Peter 3:8). The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. He is waiting. But, for how much longer?
Ephesians, chapter 1, tells us, “For he chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love,Hepredestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, Hemade known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ,to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ”.
Therefore, as new life begins anew (as evidenced by the empty tomb, the birth of children and the coming signs of spring), my prayer is that you may sink your roots deep into the living water of the Word of God. Be still to experience the riches of His creation and to know that He is God.
Find rest in green pastures and peace beside quiet waters. Restore your soul and trust the Lord God, the Creator of the Universe, to make your paths straight, to experience the fullness of being in communion with Him daily, and, more importantly, to have all of this for an eternity.