Abundant Life on the Narrow Road
An abundant life…
Is not a permissive life in which we do as we please without any parameters, consequence or repercussion.
An abundant life is rather a rich life that embraces the restraint of submission to Gods ways rather than my own as a necessary means to the deepest experience of joy… even in the midst of the sufferings of this present age.
An abundant life is not found on a broad path of evolved pop culture. It doesn’t let us go wherever we want, when we want, how we want. We don’t get to take and benge on whatever we want. In an abundant life, we consider the good of others, not just ourselves.
Abundant life is discovered on a narrow, difficult, path with the a confident assurance that the trek will lead us into glory. The narrow road will eventually become the streets of gold beneath our feet. It leads us home where we belong, where we were meant to be.
An abundant life doesn’t deny the pain that it takes to travel it ,nor does it count the times we got lost or stumbled off course as irredeemable.
The abundant life lives in the present moment fully alive without neglecting to remember the past with a real work of processing it. It doesn’t live in a denial of pain but rather moves through it in a sort of way of metabolizing it: turning it and letting it rest, turning it and letting it rest … composting it into the rich nutrients of the soil in which we now are growing.
An abundant life is fully present in the now while experiencing the redemption of the past and ever expectant of the promise to come.
On this road, we do not get to do as we please … but it does mean we get to take pleasure in what we do… and even more so in being. We get to take pleasure in being with God. We get to delight in God. There is life as we yield to the safety of Gods best path for us. In this we can find rest in who we are in His eyes with a peaceful sense of ever coming into all that He meant for us to become.
The enemy comes to steal kill and destroy. He offers us a broad road. As convincing as it may seem to us to be a more enjoyable or easy route … this path leads to destruction. But God has come to give life and life abundantly … on the narrow road with restrictions and limitations that are for our good. And also with a great degree of freedoms that are for our joy as well.
Seduction wants us to cross the good and pleasant boundaries that had been divinely set. Don’t let this decieve you into thinking there will be no suffering.
In the guise of a lie .. a false “abundant life” that gives permission to be and do and take whatever and move wherever we want in order to avoid pain. Sounds like the voice in the garden … “did god really say “… “but you will not surely die will you” … no “he’s withholding from you”
But an abundant life … “you may eat from ALL the trees of the Garden” only “avoid this one.. it will kill you.”
The enemy tempts us with the one tree… one out of how many hundreds or thousands or more. The Garden was not a boring place. Adam and eve were enticed away from the abundance of fellowship with God in a whole world of beauty. They were allured away to partake of what would destroy their destiny. Seduction seeks to turn our focus on the one we should not have: perhaps as a false medicine to escape from pain, a short route to success, a false sense of worth, meeting our needs outside of god’s provision.. the list goes on.
But there’s a whole orchard available to us. A vast realm of seeking to know God as we are known by him.
We get to partake of His divine nature (2 Peter 1:4)
We get to sit under the shade of HIS tree and delight in its fruit. (Song of Solomon 2:3)
We get to rest under the shadow of His wings. (Psalm 91)
We get to search out the very mind of Christ. (1 Cor. 2:16)
We get to spend a lifetime and eternity experiencing the height, length, width and depth of His love. (Eph. 3:18)
The depths of the riches of the knowledge of God are inexhaustible. (Rom. 11:33)
The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy. (Rom. 14:17)
If it’s not His kingdom it will not be abundant life. If His presence isn’t in it, I don’t want it. I won’t avoid suffering in this life. I’ve experienced the suffering that comes from eating from the trees on the broad road. And I’ve experienced the peace that comes amidst suffering from being yoked to the will of God. I’d rather suffer for being knit to the heart of God than bound by the ways of this world. (1 Peter 3:17)
I’ll take the narrow road of beholding and becoming. I’ll keep choosing life and life abundantly. In my heart is a highway to zion and blessed are those whose strength is in the Lord. (Psalm 84)