2: THE ABUNDANT LIFE
WHEN I WAS A LITTLE BOY, I had a picture of Jesus in my room. He was leaning on a shepherd’s staff, watching over a flock of sheep. I remember this picture well: The meadow was lush and green, the sun was bright, the sky was deep blue, and the look on Jesus’ face was serene but alert.
This picture would remind me that Jesus is the Good Shepherd, always looking out for his sheep. That’s good news, because a good shepherd must be alert, constantly protecting the sheep against predators. Based on my experience with sheep while living on my family’s ranch in Utah, sheep can’t protect themselves: They are some of the most helpless animals you will ever find.
Sheep don’t have claws or sharp teeth. They certainly are not known for their speed and agility. Sheep are, consequently, easy targets for hungry predators.
Not only are sheep unable to protect themselves, they are prone to wander and often get into trouble. If one sheep gets its head through a hole in the fence to reach some grass on the other side, it won’t be long before he makes the hole large enough to squeeze his entire body through. And once one gets through, it’s only a matter of time before the whole flock follows. Inevitably a few sheep will get tangled up in the now broken-down fence, and as they struggle to get free of the barbed wire, they can get badly cut. Bleeding sheep are in serious danger because predators can smell blood from far away.
When Jesus likens us, as his followers, to sheep, he isn’t exactly giving us a compliment. And yet, Jesus is the consummate Good Shepherd. Regardless of the trouble we cause him, he lovingly provides us with a quality of life that he describes as abundant.
What Did Jesus Mean by the Abundant Life?
I used to resist the biblical concept of the abundant life, which Jesus refers to in John 10:10. For some reason, I associated it with a version of the gospel that promises health and wealth as outcomes of salvation. I thought that the abundant life was largely reserved for eternity in heaven. However, Jesus clearly said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” His words here describe an ongoing, present-tense reality available to every Christian right here and right now.
I have come to believe that the abundant life to which Jesus is referring is a quality of life that emanates as we immerse ourselves in the reality of God’s love and experience greater intimacy with Jesus. When we do this, we will thrive—regardless of our circumstances. New Testament scholar D. A. Carson maintains that Jesus’ reference to the abundant life “suggests fat, contented, flourishing sheep, not terrorized by brigands [robbers]. . . . The life Jesus’ true disciples enjoy is not to be construed as more time to fill (merely ‘everlasting’ life), but life at its scarcely imagined best, life to be lived.”[1] God’s love produces an inner condition in the heart that is captured in the Hebrew word shalom.
Shalom refers to an inner state of completeness, wholeness, and tranquility. If you were in Israel and someone said “Shalom” to you, they would be saying something like “May your life be full of well-being.” Shalom refers to a quality of life that is accessible only through a relationship with the Lord. The Aaronic, or high priestly, blessing in Numbers 6:23-26 captures the essence of shalom: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” This prayer is a good reminder of God’s nature and character, especially as it relates to his people.
A core attribute of God’s nature is love (1 John 4:8), which is visible through his generous provision and gracious loving care for his people. God looks on his people with favor and great affection, and he is always present and willing to provide for our needs. We find evidence for God’s loving nature and character throughout the Bible. For example, God described himself to Moses saying, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). David describes God in Psalm 103:8 as “compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love” (NLT). Jesus referred to God as our “heavenly Father” who provides for the birds and the grass of the fields so richly that we—as his children—don’t need to worry about a thing because God loves us even more than them (Matthew 6:25-30). We can be confident in all this because God’s character is empowered by his divine nature.
God alone is all-powerful, all-present, and all-knowing. Consequently, when God’s people think rightly about him, they will experience peace. Isaiah writes, “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you” (Isaiah 26:3, NLT, emphasis added). The Hebrew word Isaiah uses for “peace” is shalom. Therefore, the life of shalom that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, makes available for his sheep is a life blessed with God’s presence, protection, and provision—a life characterized by a growing capacity to know and experience God’s love.
Sadly, in my experience, very few believers experience the degree of the abundant life that is available to them in Christ. Why? Because believers are engaged in a spiritual battle with Satan and his demonic horde.
The Battle for Shalom
Prior to Jesus’ statement about the abundant life in John 10:10, he says that Satan is a “thief [who] comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” Jesus is pointing out that Satan will do everything he can to keep you as a believer from experiencing a life of shalom. How? By tempting you to believe his lies. Satan is the great deceiver, and deception is his primary weapon. He tempted Eve in the Garden with lies (Genesis 3:1-4); he unsuccessfully tempted Jesus in the wilderness with lies (Matthew 4:1-11); and today, Satan is attempting to deceive the whole world with lies (Revelation 12:9). The battle for shalom is spiritual warfare—it is fought and won on the battlefield of your mind, in your thoughts.
The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 6:10-12 that every believer is engaged in a spiritual battle with Satan and his minions:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
It is important to remember that Jesus has conquered the devil and his army of fallen angels (Colossians 2:15), but it is also true that Satan is still active in this world. Peter writes, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan attempts to devour believers through deception infused with shame and fear. Jesus summed up Satan’s character by saying, “He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44, NLT). Therefore, the spiritual battle believers are fighting is on the battlefield of the mind, combating Satan’s lies with God’s truth.
The most effective way to fight against these lies is to compare them to God’s truth as revealed in the Bible. Paul refers to this tactic as taking your thoughts captive to Christ:
The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
2 CORINTHIANS 10:4-5
Comparing Satan’s lies to God’s truth in the Bible will prevent them from taking root and becoming a stronghold in your mind.
How to Identify Satan’s Lies
In order to fight effectively, we must first identify the lie: You can’t fight something you can’t see. But Satan’s lies are easy to spot. Satan will attempt to deceive you into believing lies about God, yourself, and other people. These lies often promote spiritual/emotional conflicts and emotions (including shame and fear) that hinder the ability to experience the life of shalom.
Psychologists Wilkie Au and Noreen Canon Au write, “Shame is rooted in a deep-seated fear that we are flawed, inadequate, and unworthy of love.”[2] Consequently, shame is one of Satan’s most destructive weapons: It produces fear and leads to isolation, where our vulnerability to his lies compounds. Let’s take a closer look at each type of lie that Satan will tempt you to believe.
Satan’s Lies about God
Satan will tempt you to believe that God is against you. In truth, God is for you. Paul writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
Another lie Satan wants you to believe is that God is disappointed in you. The truth is “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
Satan wants you to believe that God has more important things to deal with than you and your problems. But God is deeply concerned about you and knows everything that is going on in your life. In fact, God knows the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12:7) and has captured every tear in his bottle (Psalm 56:8).
Satan will tempt you to believe that your sin is the exception to God’s forgiveness. And yet, the Bible is clear that Jesus paid the price for all sin—including your sin and mine—when he died on the cross. When he cried out, “It is finished” (John 19:30), he was declaring, in part, that the penalty for sin—past, present, and future—is paid in full. Paul writes, “When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing” (Galatians 3:13, NLT). In fact, God promises that when you confess your sin, he will always forgive you (1 John 1:9). God will never turn away from a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17).
Satan’s Lies about You
Satan would love nothing more than for you to see yourself as a dirty, rotten sinner. But this is a lie. The truth is, at the moment of salvation, God no longer refers to you as a sinner but as a saint.
Paul regularly addresses his letters to saints: “the saints who are in Ephesus” (Ephesians 1:1); “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi” (Philippians 1:1); “the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae” (Colossians 1:2). Other early leaders of the church understood followers of Jesus to be saints: Ananias expressed his concern to God about approaching Saul by saying, “I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem” (Acts 9:13). Peter went to visit the “saints who lived at Lydda” (Acts 9:32). In fact, the word saint is used sixty-one times in the King James Version of the Bible to refer to believers.
This is a powerful witness to the new identity we have in Christ. And yet, I have found that a lot of believers resist the designation. Many think that to be a “saint” means you have to live a sin-free life. But that’s not the case at all. It is true that Christians sin (1 John 1:8). Nevertheless, Christians are saints. The difference between a sinner and a saint is not that one continues to sin while the other does not, but that one is enslaved to sin while the other is not. To be a believer is to be graced with the choice whether to sin or not.
In Christ, we are now dead to sin and slaves to righteousness: “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin” (Romans 6:6-7). At the moment of salvation, every believer becomes a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), with a new heart with new and right desires (Ezekiel 36:26). In Christ, every believer becomes a child of God (John 1:12), a brother or sister to Jesus (Romans 8:29), and a coheir with Christ (Romans 8:17). The truth about you is that God has clothed you in the righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The devil will tempt you to believe that when you choose to sin, you show that you are still a slave to sin and thus unworthy of God’s love. And yet, God’s truth reveals just the opposite: God’s love for us is based not on our worthiness but on the exercise of his nature to love.
God created you in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:27); therefore, you have value. God delights in his people: “He will take delight in you with gladness. . . . He will rejoice over you with joyful songs” (Zephaniah 3:17, NLT). The Bible declares that he has written the names of his people on the palm of his hand (Isaiah 49:16). God is deeply concerned about the well-being of his people, including you.
This might be the most amazing truth of all: God the Father loves you as much as he loves Jesus, his Son. Look carefully at Jesus’ words in his High Priestly Prayer:
I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. . . . I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.
JOHN 17:22-23, 26, NIV
The fact that God the Father loves every believer with the same love that he has for Jesus is astounding. New Testament scholar Craig Keener writes, “That the Father loved Jesus’ disciples ‘even as’ (καθώς) he loved Jesus ([John] 17:23) is one of the most remarkable statements of the Gospel, given the enormity of God’s love for his uniquely obedient Son.”[3] You can have every confidence that God loves you with a consistent, everlasting love.[4] The light of God’s Word exposes the darkness of Satan’s lies, making them easy to see.
Here is the truth about sin. At the moment of salvation, you are forgiven the penalty for your sin (Romans 3:23-24), you are free from any and all condemnation (Romans 8:1), and you are spared from the wrath of God forever (Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:9). In Christ, you are God’s beloved son or daughter (Galatians 3:26), one in whom Christ dwells (Galatians 2:20), and one for whom God has ordained every day of your life (Psalm 139:16). As a child of God, you have no need to worry or fret about the future. Jesus said that God the Father cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, but he cares even more for you (Matthew 6:26-34). In fact, Jesus invites you to live free of worry (Matthew 6:31-34), and Peter says you can cast all your anxiety on him (1 Peter 5:7).
Satan wants you to believe that there is no one who really cares about you, that you are alone, and that the only person you can rely on is yourself. This, too, is a lie. The truth is that Jesus’ Spirit, the Holy Spirit, lives in your heart (Romans 8:11), and Jesus promised that he would never leave you (Matthew 28:20).
These lies of Satan and the corresponding truths from God’s Word are only a small sample found in the Bible, but they show you how to identify lies about yourself and replace them with God’s truth.
Satan’s Lies about Others
The third type of lie Satan will tempt you to believe are lies about other people. One of those lies is that you cannot trust anyone: People will always hurt you. It’s true, there are many people in your life who have hurt you and whom you cannot trust. But it’s not true of everyone.
In the Bible, we find a number of close, reliable friendships: Moses had Aaron, Elijah had Elisha, Naomi had Ruth, David had Jonathan, Jesus had his disciples, Paul had Timothy. These biblical friendships show us that there are people who are willing to carry your burdens (Galatians 6:2), people who will accept you for who you are (Romans 15:7), people who will cry with you when you are sad (Romans 12:15), and people who will help you up when you are down (2 Timothy 4:13).
I’m not suggesting that great friendships are easy to find or that your closest friend will never hurt you at some point, but people need people. Be discerning, but be careful you don’t buy into the lie that you are alone in this world and there is nobody you can trust.
I have a number of safe people in my life in whom I can confide, including my wife, Susan. These people have demonstrated over time that they can be trusted. There is always the risk of getting hurt, even by the people you love and trust the most, but it’s a risk you need to take because God wired you for love: You cannot thrive alone. Over the years, I have been hurt by people close to me, but I have discovered that my reluctance to trust others is often more about my own pride—not wanting to appear weak or make myself vulnerable—than about their trustworthiness.
Here is a rule of thumb that has served me well: Be the kind of friend you want to have. I think that’s good advice.
Don’t Fear the Toothless Lion
In this chapter, we have looked at the stark contrast between Jesus, the Good Shepherd who cares for his flock, and Satan, a predator ready to pounce on his prey. Satan and his minions will tempt you to believe lies about God, yourself, and others, but you can choose to take those thoughts captive and replace the lies with God’s truth. Don’t forget, the devil has been defeated by the Lord Jesus (Hebrews 2:14) and has no power or authority over you; all he can do is attempt to deceive and intimidate you.
Each October, the theme of an amusement park near where I live in Southern California changes from Knott’s Berry Farm to Knott’s Scary Farm: The entire park is turned into a ghoulish Halloween nightmare. The cast members dress up in the scariest costumes you can imagine—the kind of stuff you see in a Hollywood horror film. There is only one rule that each cast member must follow, no matter what: They cannot touch a guest. They can get right up in your face, they can get as close as their breath, but they can’t physically touch you.
This cast of terrifying creatures can pretend they are going to cut you down with a chainsaw or drag you off into a dungeon to be tortured, but that’s all they are allowed to do, to scare you. The same is true of your enemy, the devil; he is a toothless lion.
Don’t get me wrong, Satan can be very convincing and intimidating: He exists as a very powerful fallen angel, but all he can do is scare you and tempt you with his lies. You can prevail.[5] The Bible contains all the truth—the very words of God—you need to tear down any stronghold in your mind (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). Jesus Christ, your Lord, Savior, brother, and friend, is the creator and sustainer of all things: “By him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17). The King of kings and the Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), Jesus has all power and authority over Satan and his entire army of fallen angels (Matthew 28:18). There is nothing and no one who can separate you from God’s love or change your identity as his son or daughter. I find tremendous encouragement in Paul’s words to the Romans:
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We’re sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
ROMANS 8:31-39, MSG
You can rest in the fact that you belong to the Lord and are sealed by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). Remember, Jesus paid the price for sin by dying on a cross; the moment you put your faith in him and his sacrifice for your sin, you are born again and become a new person in Christ, adopted into the family of God (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5) with all the rights and privileges of a beloved son or daughter. Paul writes, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16-17). You are God’s beloved (Colossians 3:12), and Jesus—your Savior, Lord, Friend, Brother, and Good Shepherd—has secured for you an eternal home in heaven (John 14:2). He also offers you an abundant life here on Earth—a life of shalom.
Whether or not you experience this life of shalom is your choice. God loves you so much that he will not demand or coerce you to experience it. Neither will he condemn you if you don’t claim what is yours in Christ. But he has made it available to you.
The question is, how will you choose to respond? Will you embrace a life of shalom or stay stuck in the muck of spiritual/emotional conflicts promoted by Satan’s lies?
Below is a chart to summarize what you have read in this chapter; it reveals the contrast between Jesus as the Good Shepherd and Satan as the Father of Lies.
Now, you might be wondering how this Christ-formation process works. That’s what this book is all about, so let’s begin the process of discovery. In the next chapter, I will describe in detail three essential ingredients for the Christ-formation process. These ingredients provide the foundation for how the growth and change process works practically.
Restoring My Soul with God
The following exercises are meant to be done over the course of five days.
- Read Colossians 1:15-17. Write down the words that describe Jesus. How do these words describe Jesus’ ability to protect you from Satan?
- Read Ephesians 6:10-19. What stands out to you from this passage? What do you learn about God? What do you learn about your adversary?
- Read through the list of Satan’s lies on pages 17–20. Summarize the lies in as few words as possible. Then, take those lies captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-6) by answering the following questions for each: What is the lie? and What does God say is the truth?
- Write out the verses you chose to replace Satan’s lies with (see question 3) on 3 × 5 cards. Plan to review them in the morning and evening for thirty days. This will replace Satan’s lies with God’s truth and help you experience shalom.
- Begin the thirty-day process of reviewing your 3 × 5 cards.
Restoring My Soul with Others
- How have you thought about the abundant life before? How would you describe it to someone now?
- Read John 10:1-10 together. What traits do you see in the passage that describe Jesus as the Good Shepherd? What is Jesus’ desire for his sheep?
- Discuss the contrast between Jesus and Satan from the chart on page 23. What stands out to you the most about Jesus’ desires for you and Satan’s desires for you?
- Review the list of Scriptures in Appendix D. Of the three types of satanic lies—about God, yourself, and others—which ones do you struggle with the most? Which verses help you the most to stand firm against Satan’s schemes?