Abundant Living

It's been a beautiful Sunday afternoon; one of those sneak-peaks at Spring we often get here in Georgia in late February. I have just come inside from washing our cars.

As my family can attest I have always enjoyed washing the cars. No matter how I'm feeling, just getting out there giving our cars a good scrubbing always seems to put me in a better mood.

This afternoon I was torn about whether to pull out the hose and bucket at all because the forecast for tomorrow is rain. As I talked it over with Donna we agreed that washing the cars could be a waste of time and energy, not to mention soap and water. But when it came right down to it, I decided to wash them anyway, regardless of what tomorrow holds.

As I was wrapping up the job and admiring the sheen on the cars it hit me that many things we do in life are ultimately futile if you think about it. We wash clothes, and then wear them and they're dirty again. We eat food knowing a few hours later we'll be hungry again. For that matter we get out of bed each morning knowing full well that we'll be right back in the bedroom pulling down the covers again in a few hours; why not just stay in bed all the time?  You get the drift of my thinking.

The answer I came up with as I pulled our clean cars into the garage is that all the stuff we do, even the stuff that may seem like a waste of time, is not a waste of time. In fact this "stuff" is what our life is made of. It's what life is all about!

So where am I going with this? Well, let me mention a couple of Bible verses - things Jesus himself said. The first is Matthew 6:34, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." The second is John 10:10 "The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come so that they (you and me) may have life and have it to the full."

These scriptures remind us to live for today and to live every moment of each day to the fullest. They also teach that the enemy's strategy is to steal life from us bit by bit by keeping us worried about what tomorrow may bring, or by whether or not we'll have what we need (scarcity mentality). Meanwhile, we're missing out on today. I'm not saying planning and working toward the future is wrong, but it is when we do so at the expense of what God may be showing us or wanting us to do or experience in the present moment.

Some of you like me are unemployed right now. Being unemployed is a sure-fire recipe for worry, doubt and a scarcity mentality. If that describes you, remember these two verses, straight from the mouth of Jesus. Live for today! Go wash your car! Don't worry about the weather! Refuse to live in fear and doubt and stand instead in the light of God's abundant life. That's definitely God's plan for you; the Bible says so.