Choose Life

This past weekend, I listened to a sermon on John 10:10 that discussed Jesus offering us an abundance of life. A few hours later, my cousin Eli texted me, saying, "Just heard my preacher say 'choose life,' that’s a whole devotional right there, man." I had been praying that God would speak to me and that I would be more sensitive to His voice, so shout out to Jesus for speaking to me in such a literal and obvious way (and for naming this devotional Himself, because the Lord knows how much I struggle to come up with them on my own).

The preacher broke down the verse in such an interesting way, and after my cousin's text, I was reminded of a devotion I had written last year, and a quote from a book I had read last summer. So, this devotional will be a combination of all those lightbulb moments that I've had over the last few days.

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Lazarus and the Grave: (this is the devotional I wrote my senior year)

the key scripture from this section comes from J O H N 1 1 : 1 - 4 5

Instead of fully writing the scripture out Im going to walk you through the story but I encourage you to read the scripture to yourself here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2011%3A1-45&version=NIV

• Lazarus was a dear friend of Jesus'.

• Mary and Martha (Lazarus's sisters) tell Jesus that Lazarus is sick, and he responds by saying, "His sickness won’t end in death; this will be used for God's glory."

• Two days later, Jesus tells his disciples that it’s time to go back to Judea (where Mary and Martha reside).

• His disciples express concern, saying, "People want to stone you there." Jesus reassures them, saying, "our friend Lazarus is asleep. We need to go wake him up Fast forward a bit.

• When Jesus finally returns to Judea, Lazarus is officially dead.

• Mary and Martha accompany Jesus to Lazarus's tomb.

• Jesus commands, "Lazarus, come out!"

• Lazarus, who was dead, walks out of the grave. We'll return to the rest of this devotion later.

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J O H N 1 0 : 1 0

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly".

The preacher this weekend pointed out how it seems as if "steal, kill, and destroy" are out of order. I also thought that it would have made more sense if it was "steal, destroy, AND THEN kill." But he shared the revelation the Lord gave him about this order.

The enemy can only offer you these three words: steal, kill, destroy. Ultimately, anything that the world can offer you will end in these three words: steal, kill, and destroy.

The thief starts off with stealing something from you

• maybe your hopes and dreams

• your conviction’s

• your desire or ambition for the Lord and his calling

• maybe the thing you never thought you’d loose or have to give up

• maybe your health, or job, or mental health

whatever it is this cycle typically starts with you taking a loss that feels too big to bounce back from

The thief kills you in some way

• Kills your joy

• kills your ambition

• kills your faith

• kills your hope

• kills your motivation

• kills your peace

Then the thief destroys everything around you

• once you die, everything around you IS affected

• your family

• your S/O

• your friends

A lot of the time, we think that what happens to us is only happening to us. But the truth is that we are emotional, relational, and spiritual beings. Whether you realize it or not, those around you show it. The death of your character, joy, faith, or hope affects the environment around you and essentially destroys it.

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Back to Lazarus

We find ourselves in graves sometimes (I used to find myself in them more than I liked to admit). Sometimes we make decisions that land us in them, and sometimes others do things that put us there. The point isn’t about how you got into that grave. The point is that Jesus is calling you out of that grave. The Creator of the universe, the One who rules and has power over every authority, power, and dominion did not create YOU to live a life of constantly feeling broken, numb, angry, carrying bitterness, or living in fear and confusion.

"... I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly".

Jesus came so that we may live life in abundance. He doesn’t want you to go another day, month, or year barely getting by.

I think for many of us, He's been calling us out of there for a long time, but we're always held back by the "what ifs." These "what ifs" aren’t a new thing; Jesus was constantly met by these "what ifs" throughout His whole ministry here on earth. And every time that we stumble upon a "what if" that wants to keep us in our graves, we can have the certainty that everything we lack, Jesus promises to fulfill. The only thing we need to be certain of is that JESUS CAME SO THAT YOU MAY LIVE IN ABUNDANCE.

Last year, I realized that I walked through life with fear, afraid to be fully embraced by God's goodness. I always felt like I was constantly encountering hardship after hardship, so I couldn’t let my guard down when I was finally doing alright. I was always awaiting the next bad thing to happen. This past summer, I was reading the book "Living Beyond the Hurt" by Kimberly McCall (https://www.amazon.com/Living-Beyond-Hurt-StoryHealing/dp/B0C2SQ8RQT/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&coliid=I33CKFLFH1AJ5W&colid=2AOCZ1ANYK0RJ&qid=&sr=)

She was sharing a testimony about her struggle with suicide and said "if he could die for me, I could continue living for him".

I don't want to just encourage you; I want to CHALLENGE you to choose to live life in abundance. Jesus died so that you would live life abundantly, but now it's YOUR turn to choose life.