No More Diminished Life

Jesus tells us in John 10:10 that "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (KJV). Imagine a life that exceeds our expectations! A life overflowing and abundant!

But a single glance in the mirror is telling. Our aging face shows lines of worry and distress. We can't help but to notice our lips slightly turn downward in an expression of sorrow or sadness. And those eyes that once danced and sparkled with youthful vigor are dimmed by a life we would never imagined or wanted. We turn away to face the walls where we live and how we live and it feels anything but abundant but rather confining and diminishing.

Yesterday's bright hopes and dreams have long disappeared under the layers of dismissal and denial. So why bother resurrecting bone-dried desires? It will be too painful to stir passions into a warm flame.

At least that is how Martha and Mary must have felt when their brother Lazarus died. Leave him alone. He's at rest. And after four days of being dead any chance of life was long gone.

Perhaps the verse in John 11:25 is a greater comfort for those who feel dead inside though functionally living. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead (emphasis mine), yet shall he live (John 11:25 KJV). Moments later Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

So too I believe the Lord desires to bring us out of our self imposed tombs. Namely, unbelief that simply does not trust God with the most fragile and intimate places in our hearts. There is a risk in trusting but with God we can never be disappointed. All that He does in our lives is good and for our good.

And so we come to the question Jesus asked Martha. "...and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" John 11:26 NIV)

Do we believe He cares?
Do we believe He loves us?
Do we believe He can speak to our deaden hearts to come to life again?

If we believe...we live.