The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
John 10:10 (ESV)
My wife and I were newlyweds and had just moved to Cleveland, Tennessee. One Saturday, we were walking through a popular Christian bookstore when I heard a song that was being played through their sound system. I was new to contemporary Christian music so many of the artists were unknown to me. A young man named Steven Curtis Chapman, who would later be known by everyone, was singing these words that rocked my future:
But here’s more to this life than living and dying
More than just trying to make it through the day.
More to this life, more than these eyes alone can see.
And there’s more than this life alone can be.
My sister had passed away earlier that year at 36 years of age after an agonizing battle with breast cancer. As thrilled as I was with starting a new family, both of our hearts were heavy over a loss that touched both of us. But, in those moments of pretending to be shopping, words of Scripture that I had embrace from my childhood became vivid in my mind.
Jesus came for moments of grief and confusion and heartbreak. He even went as far as to specifically tell us that the enemy is personally responsible for those losses that shake us to the core. But HE came to those who would believe in order to give them a life that transcends all the pain. It was as if He was telling me in that store (and all of us who will listen), “Death is part of life, but it is not to control our life. Many of us embrace the old “put-one-foot-in-front-of-the-other” concept of living. Jesus spoke of a life that would be “abundant,” which means “exceptional” or “overflowing.” He didn’t minimize the pain or explain it away, but His words put it in proper perspective. Pain will come, but it cannot stay forever in the heart of one Jesus came to save.
Everything our eyes can see is temporary. Day after day, we face losing those we love and the things we consider important but letting go of our pain will be the only way to see that there is more to this life!
