What Does A 'Full Life' Mean to You?

What Does A ‘Full Life’ Mean to You?

In the NIV, Jesus says in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” King James says, “and that they might have it more abundantly.”  The Complete Jewish Bible says, “have life in its fullest measure.” God’s Word translation says, “so that my sheep have every thing they need.” The words may be different, but the concept is the same: What we choose to fill yourselves up with, here on this yucky earth, has everything to do with how we will spend eternal life. We are preparing for eternal life now. We can’t skip this earthly journey. We have do everything on our journey here in preparation for what is to come…heaven. So, our full life has everything to do with what we fill our life with here on this earth.

Matthew 16:19 says, “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” I choose to live a full life here on earth binding love, joy, forgiveness, gentleness, compassion, hard work and mercy to myself to the glory of God. I choose to loose bitterness, shame, guild, unforgiveness, strife, judgment and resentment from me and lay them at the cross. When you get to heaven, what will God see is bound to you?

Here are examples from the Word

1)      Full confidence: Proverbs 31:11, “Her husband has full confidence in her.” And God put his full confidence in Job. Job 1:8, “Have you considered my servant, Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” Can people and esp. God have full confidence in you? To live in full confidence with others is to be above reproach (1 Timothy 3:2) , blameless and upright. Hard, but possible to live this aspect of a full life.

2)      Full of glory: “The whole earth if full of His glory,” Isaiah 6:3. This world is also full of fleeting things like riches, fame and glory. You get to choose and pursue what you fill yourself up with. The only glory we should be contemplating is being full of His glory. If you are not part of Him, what are you filled with?

3)      Full heart: Matthew 12:34 says, “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” Is your heart full of prayer? Is your heart full of venom?  If your heart is full of the fruit of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control; your mouth will follow those characteristics and so will your actions. The opposite is also true. So, what do you fill your heart with?

4)      Full of Spirit: Luke 4:1; Acts 6:3,5; Acts 7:55; Acts 11:54; all talk about being full of the Holy Spirit. Accepting that Jesus is your Savior and that He has unconditional love for you and living for Him no matter what, is being full of the Spirit. FYI: just because we are full of the Spirit does not mean we are perfect and we do it all right. That is were we have to accept God’s free and undeserved favor called grace. And His undeserved kindness and compassion called mercy. They are free gifts for the acceptance. Do you accept them or still bind guild and shame and defeat on yourself? When you can accept grace and mercy, you will have peace and joy beyond understanding.

5)      I could go on and on, but I think Jack captured it best, "A full life is both physical and spiritual. You can't have too much spiritual, but often people can't handle too much physical." Well said. We should be filling ourselves with all kinds of spiritual gifts because according to 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, our work will be revealed by fire and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has survives (spiritual) he will be rewarded. If what he has burns up (physical) he will suffer loss. The physical temple may be destroyed, but the spiritual temple we have consecrated to the Lord will survive.   

I like what my mom said, “Full life is a mystery where the treasure of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in God and Christ.” Sometimes, I think, having a full life does not mean we are comfortable at all. Trials, tribulation, tears, cancer, death, illness, loss of jobs, spouses, destruction through fire or tornado…all these are a mystery that leads us to a full life, fully relying on Him. I don’t understand it, but I’ve read enough to know that the Bible teaches the opposite of what earth teaches. For example, the world does not teach to turn the other cheek, the Bible does. The world does not teach to give away your wealth, the Bible does. The world does not teach to pray for your enemies, the Bible does. The world does not teach to be last, the Bible says those who are last will be first. These are all mysteries hidden in God. A worldly person cannot fathom their meaning. Godly people fathom it, but can’t fully understand it, but strive for it anyway and never, never give up searching for God’s mysteries. We only know in part like 1 Cor 13 says. Godly people have faith and don’t have to know all the answers. 

I hope this has been a blessing to you. It has been a blessing creating it…for the glory of God. Thanks to every one who commented about their full life goals. I may have more on this issue next week.