More Than Enough

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. – John 10:10

In John 10:10, our Lord emphatically declared that He came not just that we may have life, but that we may have it “more abundantly”. This does not mean to have a “full” life or have life “to the fullest” as several modern Bibles translate it; but to have life in a measure that is more than full; more than enough.

The Greek word, perissos, used here can also be found (probably unsurprisingly) in the famous Eph 3:20. But it’s appearance in two places during our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount is probably more illuminating.

Mat 5:37 says, “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than (perissos) these comes from evil.” And Mat 5:47 says, “If you greet your brethren only, what do you more than (perissos) others? Do not even the tax collectors so?”

In the first the Lord says, “Don’t say anything more than ‘yes’ or ‘no’” and in the second, He says “by greeting only your brothers, you haven’t done anything more than the tax collectors”.

So when He used that same word in John 10:10, He’s promising not just full life, but more than full life.

This is not some Prosperity Gospel sales pitch; these are the very words of the Lord Himself. That’s what He came to give you!

He’s given you enough hints and glimpses already. Through nature and through scripture, He’s painted a picture of the kind of life He created you to have. And as you change your mindset and hold on to His promises, I pray that these pictures become your everyday reality in Jesus’ name. 

AMEN.

GREG ELKAN

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