As I sit and look out the back windows, I see the verdant, green trees lining the back yard. I see the birds feeding freely at the bird-feeders provided. From my point of view, I also look through the windows in the end of the house and see little baby bunny exploring and nibbling freely at the abundance of green grass provided for him. Then, I think of the creek that borders the eastern side of our property. With my daily walk along the creek, I see the fish, the turtles, and an occasion sighting of a water snake that quickly slides into the water as I approach. It is spring time, and life is bursting out everywhere. The older I get, the more I realize that the Word of God never tells us that we have to get old and decrepit. It gives some examples of some who did, but it also gives promises and examples of some who prospered in old age. Moses didn’t die until he was one hundred and twenty, and it says his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. Moses knew the Lord “face to face” (Exodus 34:7-10). Caleb “wholly followed the Lord,” and he had the strength of a forty-year-old when he was eighty-five (Joshua 14:7-11). David recognized that the Lord satisfies our mouth with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagles (Psalms 103:2-5). He also recognized that he who dwells under the shadow of the Almighty will be satisfied and have long life in that satisfaction (Psalms 91:16). Isaiah prophesied that God gives strength and power, and that those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and run and not be weary and walk and not faint (Isaiah 41:28-31). Jesus comes along and sums it all up by saying the devil has come to steal, kill, and destroy, but “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). John capped it off by writing to the church saying “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (1 John 1:2). Somehow, I fail to see in all this the expectation for us to get old and worn out. So, as age creeps up on me, I think I will think on these promises and ways of God rather than magnify my miseries. We can either line up to God’s Word and God’s way of life in Christ Jesus, or we can line up to death and disease. Paul said it like this: In Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life has made me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2), and, if the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwell in you, He shall make alive your mortal body (verse 11). There is too much life in Christ, for us to think continually in the realm of death.
Life Abundant
Published by
