Many have come with methods for obtaining “the abundant life” promised by Christ
to
those who really believe. Glowing testimonials accompany the
salesmen of seventh heaven. An over-stimulated generation seeks
after a new experience, and these promoters of Christ as the
ultimate satisfaction of this life are completely opposed to the
gospel Jesus Christ preached. We are each of us at a crossroads. This intersection has a way that says, “Come over here where we are happy and full of goods! We have the gospel that gives us riches and pleasure in this life. We are happy, sublime and smug. Come with us and experience joy! Don’t worry about all those self-denial things that are legalistic. Look at our faces! We are happy, happy, happy.” Now if we look at the fruit of their happiness, we see despair, sickness, fear – all the things they claim to be freed from. So we see another gospel – a lying spirit.
Another direction at the crossroads goes to a place that leads to a cross. Jesus is there. And those who go that way must bear a cross. He says to them, “I am with you, even to the end of the world.” And sure enough, we see Jesus. He is the suffering Savior, not like the slick salesmen who promise freedom but place men into bondage of lasciviousness and covetousness, with which this present world
abounds.
If we want the abundant life, we have to lose our lives. This will not seem very blissful to the flesh, or to the complacent hoards around us who seek pleasure in this life. It will seem a contradiction, to have life we must lose our life. But Jesus will be with us, and that will be the abundant life. There is no other.
- Chris Simonson
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