Living More Abundantly, Part I

"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." (1)

What is the more abundant life that Jesus came to give?

He came to give us health: "Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily." (2)
He came to give us peace: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." (3)
He came to give us happiness: "Whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he." (4) "Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law." (5)
He came to give us prosperity: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper." (6)
He came to protect us from evil: "A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked." (7)
He came to give us freedom from the bondage of sin: "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." (8) "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (9)
He came to give us joy: "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." (10)
He came to give us a future and a hope: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." (11)
He came to give us eternal life: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (12)
He came to give us knowledge and understanding: "To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins." (13) "Then He said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.' And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures." (14)
He came to give us the formula for a successful life here and now and for the hereafter: "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." (15)

To be continued-

1. John 10:10.
2. Isaiah 58:8.
3. Isaiah 26:3.
4. Proverbs 16:20.
5. Proverbs 29:18.
6. Psalm 1:1-3.
7. Psalm 91:7, 8.
8. Proverbs 28:13.
9. 1 John 1:9.
10. John 15:11.
11. Jeremiah 29:11.
12. John 3:16, 17.
13. Luke 1:77.
14. Luke 24:44, 45.
15. Matthew 6:33.