Keys to Living Christ’s Abundant Life
PART ONE

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:10

I don’t know any Christ-follower who doesn't want to experience the abundant life Jesus promised us. Unfortunately, from my observation, few seem to be living that life. As we have traveled the country and around the world, we have encountered believers who, from all outward and spoken indicators, are not walking in joy, but instead are living in torment and defeat. The question that presents itself is, “why?” Why do so many of us struggle and muddle our way through our daily lives when Jesus promised us so much more?

The answer is found in the first part of John 10:10. When Jesus said, “I came that they may have life,” He was contrasting Himself with “the thief.” Our enemy, Satan, is a thief who wants to steal our faith, kill our joy, and destroy our effectiveness. He is ruthless in his schemes to keep us from the abundant life our Savior came to give us. Two of his most used tools to short-circuit us are unforgiveness and sin-management. If Satan can keep us bitter and keep us living our lives in our own strength, he can keep us tormented and disconnected from the Holy Spirit’s power. However, Jesus has given us two keys to keep Satan defeated and us walking in freedom. The primary keys to the Abundant Life are to Forgive and to Abide.

FORGIVE

Be angry, and yet do not sin;
do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and do not give the devil an opportunity.
Ephesians 4:26-27

One of the primary ways that we open ourselves up to Satan’s schemes to keep us from the Abundant Life, is when we choose to not forgive. In Ephesians 4:26-27, our failure to properly deal with our anger “gives the devil an opportunity” to work against us in our lives. Anger can naturally arise in us when we are wounded and mistreated. Paul says we are to quickly deal with those things that anger us. How are we to deal with wounds and mistreatment? Paul gives us the antidote a few verses later: Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:31-32) Our proper response to things that anger us is forgiveness.

In Matthew 18:21-35, Jesus teaches us that the Father withholds His protection from us—that He gives legal authority for Satan and his minions the opportunity to torment us when we choose not to forgive. This is why we believe that unforgiveness is the most harshly disciplined sin we, as believers, can commit. There’s no other sin for which God disciplines His children by handing us over to tormentors. Why? Because our unforgiveness devalues the blood of Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us on the cross.

Living under the torment of unforgiveness is a miserable and bitter experience. The signs of torment we see all around us are bitterness, depression, anxiety, outbursts of anger, fear, all of the addictions (drug, alcohol, sex, food, etc.), paranoia, control issues, and some physical issues. Over the last 15 years, as we have coached people to forgive, we have witnessed all these signs disappear as transformative freedom overflows in their countenance and spirit. Their torment is gone, and their joy is restored.

Forgiveness is simply applying the blood of Jesus as payment in full for every wound we ever have or will suffer. By choosing to forgive, we honor the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf by extending it to those who wounded us. When we do so, the doorway to Satan is slammed shut, and bitterness gives way to joy as we begin to experience the Abundant Life Jesus came to give us. Forgiveness is simple, and your freedom is on the other side of your choice to forgive.

The second key to experiencing the Abundant Life Jesus promised is to learn to abide, which we will discuss in Part Two.

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