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Sunday, April 24, 2011

Abundant Life - Jason


I have been thinking about Psalm 1 ever since I heard a friend of mine from Bible College singing it.  Here it is if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAXxmkxJDy0&feature=player_embedded 

Psalm1: 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—  whatever they do prospers.
 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
 6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. 

The righteous are like trees planted by water which bear fruit.  How does that strike you?  Not so strange…that’s what trees are meant to do.  Jesus said that He came to bring us abundant life – full life.  When we delight in the truth, we live life the way it is meant to be lived and life is full.  Just like there is nothing strange about a tree bearing fruit, there is nothing strange about living life for God’s glory – loving Him, loving people, and using our gifts and abilities in a way that take dominion.  It was meant to be – and salvation enables life the way it was meant to be.

On the other hand, the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away.  Who are the wicked?  They are those who refuse to take delight in the Truth.  Instead, they seek their own path, their own way.  They are masters of their own life.  The problem is that chaff is the part of the plant that is worthless. Its what the combine spits out once it has the seed. In seeking to provide their lives with their own meaning, they are slaves to insignificance.  The wind blows them away…the feeling of being master of their own life is illusory.  The reality is that they are not doing the carrying but are being carried away.

As I write, there are two faces that come to mind.  Faces that have chosen to be chaff – that have chosen lives of insignificance by declaring their own independence.  Each life is like watching a train wreck – one bad decision following another bad decision, each bringing with it consequences that cause those making the decisions to cry for relief. Yet they continue to refuse to be planted by the stream of living water.  Chaff intended to be a fruit tree, yet determining to remain chaff. Chaff screaming that it wants to bear fruit, yet refusing to be a fruit tree.

John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

I can say as a believer in Jesus Christ, that having Him as Savior has not made my life more burdensome – it has set me free!  With all that I have, I want others to know that same Freedom.