Aspects of an Abundant Life
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
An abundant Christian life is one that is full of joy and prayer as we have seen the past two weeks. A joyful and prayerful life is made even more abundant by having meaningful and exciting purposes for our days.
Since the 17th century many believers have answered the question about life’s purposes in the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which answers the question about the chief purpose of man with the two-part answer, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
In its broadest expression a purposeful life is one set on glorifying God in every way in every day. The Bible instructs us, “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). While we cannot make God any more glorious than He already is, we can by our manner of living and our life’s priorities cause Him to be seen by others as the God of glory. Our words and our deeds are at their best when they enable others to see God’s reflection through us.
An important aspect of glorifying God is to put His interests and purposes at the top of our list of reasons for living each day.
Jesus put seeking God’s kingdom at the top of the list for life’s purposes when He spoke about having the basic necessities of life such as food and clothing, by admonishing, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33). Might we not conclude that the starting point for experiencing an abundant life is asking God who “gives liberally and without reproach” (James 1:5) to do so in order that others might understand what a great and glorious God we serve?
Enjoy God forever
The second part of the traditional answer about the chief purpose of human life is that we enjoy God forever. We do well each day to ponder to what extent or if at all whether our chief delight is found in experiencing God’s good pleasure.
Do we enjoy being a child of God? Is that enjoyment evident to onlookers? Is the future eternal enjoyment of God in His heaven spilling over into this present time of our earthly sojourn? If so then we will live a purposeful life that possesses a foretaste of the abundant life coming in our eternal future.
Desiring each day to live to the glory and enjoyment of God is a major part of the secret of an abundant life.
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