Abundant Life (John 10:10)

 


Friday, August 1, 2025


Psalm 74

2 Samuel 13:1-19

John 9:39-10:18


Observance: Holy men and women of the Old Testament


Abundant Life (John 10:10)


[Jesus said,] “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”


There is a burden that many clergy these days have to deal with, and that is the burden of “the busy priest”. I do not know where this idea has come from (but I have some suspicions), but it seems that many Christians feel guilty about getting in touch with their minister outside Sunday mornings for fear that he is “too busy”. As I said, I do not know where this idea has come from, because in today’s second lesson, our Lord does not say that he has come to give us a busy life, but an abundant life.


This problem of so-called busyness is not restricted to clergy, either. Anyone who feels passionate about their work, or about the people they support with their work, faces the temptation of becoming busy. You can be a CEO or a housewife (and it is more likely to happen to a housewife, because their work is more important), or in any stage or station: busyness can threaten us anywhere.


So let’s think about what it means instead to have an abundant life. It is still a full life; there is still plenty to do. But rather than having too much and having to cut it down, abundance feels more like starting with nothing and letting things grow out of it. If anything needs to be taken out of a life to make it more abundant, it would be those things that overwhelm, those things that make us busy. Busy is running around like a chicken with its head cut off; abundance is like a table spread with a feast and plenty of guests laughing and having a good time.


Where do you find yourself becoming busy? Where might you find abundance?


Jesus Christ, our Lord of life in abundance: call us into your sheepfold, and show us what you would have us do, so that we may escape the stress of busyness and enter into the joy of abundance.

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