Are you tired of your life? Are you tired of the wake up, go to work, come home, eat something, watch TV, go to bed, rinse and repeat? I mean most of us live in this loop known as survival. We just go through the motions of life, without ever really living life. We say we want different, but life just keeps us in this loop of misery.
Einstein is credited as saying “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. However, this is how most of us live our lives, praying that something unexpected happens. We finally win the lottery. A job we never applied for, never went to school for, suddenly falls in our lap. Our spouse just wakes up one morning completely different.
In Proverbs 13:4 it says, “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” What this means is we all desire things. We all desire a better job, a better marriage, a better life, but so many of us are too lazy to do the work required for those things. But those who are willing to put in the work, they are richly supplied.
See make no mistake, we are meant to live life to the fullest. In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” For some people, they read this verse and think it means that we curb our desires. For others, this verse means that Jesus came so we may have all the desires of our earthly hearts. However, this verse actually doesn’t have anything to do with material possessions at all.
See this is the biggest problem of all, we think life is all about the most toys. About fulfilling everything my heart desires. Fancy trips, good food, all the toys, the boats, the cars, the family, the life I had always envisioned. However, this verse is not promising the yacht or the helicopter. This verse is giving our life meaning.
What Jesus is saying in John 10 is the same thing Solomon came up with in the book of Ecclesiastes. That if we want to live our best life, we have to live a life of meaning. We need to have purpose, we need to live a life on mission. In fact, if we look to blue zones, or areas of the world where people live 100+ years, one of the things they all have in common is life has meaning.
Purpose is what gives a reason to fight, to live, to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Think back 100 years, in 1923 luxury was still a luxury. Kids didn’t walk around with $1,000 phones. They didn’t argue back with their parents, teachers, or each other, because they were too tired from going to school and then work. They had to do these things if they wanted to survive. The purpose of life was to gather the resources to live.
So when Jesus says He came to give life abundantly, what He is saying is I come to give you purpose. What purpose you may ask? To love God with all your mind, heart, body, and soul, and to love others the way you love you (Matthew 22). To seek and save what is lost (Luke 19), to bring God’s kingdom here (2 Corinthians 5). That our purpose in life, just like Adam and Eve’s purpose is to make all the world look like the garden, to look like the kingdom of Heaven.
Work is not a bad thing, it is not a consequence of sin, it is what gives us purpose. If you want to live your best life now, pour out all you are for those around you. Your family, your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors, your enemies, everyone. You were created on purpose, for a purpose. We were created to give, not take. We were created for more than what we are living for. We are created for more than just storing up treasure, we are created for pouring out!
We are created in the image of God (Genesis 2), this means we are created to create, work, love, and give. The same things Jesus does (Matthew 20:28). When we start chasing things, when we start looking to creation rather than the creator is when we have issues, when life seems to be getting the best of us. Make no mistake, the more we chase the temporary, the more tired we will feel.
Because no matter how good the food was, we will get hungry again. No matter how amazing the truck may be, it will break down. No matter how well the game will go, we will lose some. If we chase the shinny things of this world it will always leave us wanting more.
However, when we chase Jesus, when we live with a purpose, on mission, we will learn the secret of being content! So if you are tired, start giving. If you want more, start giving. If you want to feel fulfilled, start giving! You can have life abundantly as long as we are not living life selfishly.
This is the secret to a happy life!