February 10

Life and life abundant

“Then said Jesus . . . I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10: 7, 10).
“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance” (Matt. 13:12).

In imagination I want you to come with me to a ward in one of our big hospitals, and here before us we see a man. He has been seriously ill for months; in fact, as we approach his bed we are hardly sure whether he is alive or dead. But, as we watch him closely, we see that his chest moves slightly, and, on feeling his pulse, we find that it still beats feebly. True, he is alive, but should the ward catch fire he is too weak to save himself, and it is quite certain that he is not strong enough to rescue anybody else. But he is alive. He has Life.
Now come with me again in imagination to Putney Bridge. Today is the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, and as we look over the bridge, there, almost at our feet, we see the two boats with their eight oarsmen in each. These men have been training for weeks, some for months, and today they are to go through one of the greatest ordeals that any athlete is ever asked to undergo—a race of four-and-a-quarter miles, from Putney to Mortlake, and as we watch them start we realize that their bodies are just tingling with Life. They have Life abundant.

There is a vast difference between the sick man in the hospital ward and these training athletes. The one has Life, the others Life in Abundance. There is all the difference also in the spiritual world. Some Christians have life, i.e., they are really converted people, but they know nothing of the Abundant Life which Jesus Christ came to give His people. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”—George S. Ingram.

There is always something over
When we trust our gracious Lord;
Every cup He fills o’erfloweth—
His great rivers all are broad.
Nothing narrow, nothing stinted,
Ever issues from His store,
To His own He gives full measure,
Running over, evermore.
—Margaret E. Barber.

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