A Full Life

I thank God that I am living a full Life! At an age when many slow down, my sense is I am not exactly accelerating, but . . .maybe hitting my stride?

I have spent too much of my life being “busy for the Lord.” I say that because I thought being busy with the things of God was what was expected. That was living under the lie that the more I do for God, the more pleased He is with me. I was unconsciously attempting to earn my way to heaven. And that was wrapped up with other lies, such as pleasing people, and more.

The truth is, that none of us can earn our way to eternity with our Creator. Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient, for me, for us, to be in relationship with the Living God. He offers a very expensive gift that we only need to accept in order to qualify. It is arguably the most magnificent exchange ever.

Abba is inviting us all to focus on living a full life instead of a busy one. It may seem like an indiscernible difference, but it is one that can be important.

As I verified the definitions of full and busy with Webster’s dictionary, at first, they look very similar. Checking out the synonyms of the two is where the divergence is confirmed. 

Synonyms for busy include, laborious, knee-deep, swamped, and tied-up. Not all the options are this negative, but these do imply weights we generally want to avoid.

Full, on the other hand, does not leave any negative connotations.  Just a few replacement options for full include, generous, comfortable, fruitful, luxuriant, and abounding. [Abundant] Now that is how I want to feel about my life.

I like what Jesus said: ^“I am the Door; anyone who enters in through Me will be saved (will live). He will come in and he will go out [freely], and will find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it ^[b]overflows).” John 10:9-10

The thief, who is the enemy of our souls, wants us busy, because it is easier to drag us down from a busy life than from a full life. Jesus offers abundance. I admit, it  has taken me many years to shift to being more full than busy.

A big marker that I have largely shifted came for me last month. I was invited to travel to pray on site for a strategic event. It was with a bunch of people I love and used to work with. I even told the organizer, a dear friend, that I would go, but I didn’t find real peace about going. 

I kept planning even though several pieces were not coming together. Then I had a dream that strongly suggested I had to let go of something near to my heart. Initially I was not clear about what it was. A week or two later it became clear to me that it was the event.

As soon as I let go of it, I had a wave of full shalom come over me. The event with literally days of travel each way could have pushed me well over the edge of being busy. This week is the event, and thanks to cell phones and the internet, I am still able to pray. From home, it is not as intense or exhausting.

I may never know why I am not there, doing what I love with people I love, but I know the One who understands. And I am abundantly enjoying quite a full life from home this week.