Abundant Life
One of the things I think trips us up most in life as Christians is that we believe our “calling” is something we do versus the person we are. We were created as human beings not human doings. So much of our lives however are equated to and labeled by what we do. The irony is that we only do something because of who we are, whether we realize it or not. We think we have a grasp on what it means to live a Christian life - go to church, be nice, serve others etc. While there is nothing wrong with those things, I think that when those things are the aim we are making religion or morality our target and actually inadvertently take God’s design for us out of the equation.
We are God’s creation. Therefore, our being is inextricably connected to God and how we were made. Based on God’s original intention, therefore, the only way to live in the abundance that we were made for is in connection to God. Not to be dismissive of, but regardless of what we have encountered or endured in life, we all have God’s original unique design within us waiting to be discovered by us and revealed to others.
Jesus is our best example. Jesus did not do what he did because church leaders thought it was best, because the people would like it or because it was the right thing to do according to moral standards made up by humans. Everything Jesus did was a revelation of who he was. Because Jesus was so confident in knowing who he was there was no question about what he was doing or where he was going. He lived the best, most abundant life because he knew it was uniquely purposed for him before the world began.
In the beginning we were given the opportunity to live our fullest life with God as our guide, without hindrance. What we chose was to see what we could do apart from God’s loving hand and abundant life. We tried to “do” our way to our best life apart from recognizing that we didn’t know the way because we didn’t have an accurate reflection of who we were. What resulted was death.
We don’t have to commit moral failure to experience the burden of living outside of and from the source of who we are. All it takes is a slight shift from God’s idea of life to ours to get us to trading true, abundant life for death - trying to “do” life out of obligation rather than “live” life from a place of love. There is no “calling” or ministry greater than being who God made us to be. When we are living as we were created to be we automatically bring life with us wherever we go. This is the irresistible force of light and love that others will be attracted to. No force, no guilt, no shame, no striving, no rush. This is the life we were created for. A life where we “live and move and have our being in Him (Acts 17:28)”.
- Katie Rivera, Coach-Counselor
