The Variable LifeSample

“Abundant Life Can’t Be Earned” Remember the bright glow of video game screens on the foreheads of our generation? They consumed my teenage thoughts. My brother and I begged our parents for Gameboys. Finally, we got what our friends had, until they got something new, shiny, and better. Nothing else mattered until we could upgrade, too. Many of us judge success in life by how close we are to a desired object. Everything becomes about getting it. In a productivity and success-driven world, materialism is the acceptable, modern idol. Like jonesing for a fix, we pang for a little more. One more car. Upgrade the smartphone. Perhaps we’ll get the summer home. Those shoes were a great deal, and so are those, and those; how could I refuse? There’s a vicious cycle of poverty, but I also think the cycle of materialistic wealth is just as brutal—a dangerous slide into the rut of accumulation. Materialism says the goal of life is to gain. We worship at the altar of our whims and marketplace. We abandon character because it’s inconvenient to live with integrity when we can acquire more dishonorably. Working to provide for people we love is a noble, worthy pursuit. God wants us to pour energy and passion into work. But God urges us to value him and people more than we value wealth or its pursuit. When our lives become more about gaining, we move further away from the life Jesus talked about in John 10:10. Accumulation doesn’t equal unlimited satisfaction. Abundance in material things doesn’t equal abundant life. Abundant life is found in knowing God and shaping our lives around him. Wholeness isn’t found in getting or taking, achieving or actualizing, or even acting charitably. We’re designed for a relationship with God, understanding who he is and who we are in relation to him. He intends good for us, and to do good through us, because he cares deeply about each member of the human race. I’m grateful God doesn’t manipulate and take things with mean-spirited intentions. He’s so far away from thievery he gave us himself. We’re given Jesus, the shepherd of our souls, the one who leads us into fresh pastures and a new way of living. He gives us his Spirit, a guide and advocate, a gift to our soul’s thirst for a life that matters (John 14:16-27).