This past Saturday evening Bev and I enjoyed an evening together. Friends had given us a generous gift certificate to the Waterfront Tavern in Lewistown. Everything about the evening sparkled with life. The chef at the Waterfront obviously enjoys creating culinary masterpieces, blending flavors and presenting them exquisitely. The steak seemed to melt in your mouth, every bite of the crab cakes demanded another. The October Spice lager blended with the meal to perfection. We dared to try an unknown (to us) desert of rum-soaked lady fingers topped with mousse and chocolate syrup to discover it equalled the rest of the meal. We finished off our desert with steaming rich coffee enhanced with real cream.
The entire experience caused me to reflect on life, more specifically, the abundant life promised by Jesus. It seems to me that we frequently define Christianity, not by abundant life, but by the things we can't or shouldn't do. A pastor friend of mine was recently chided for having too much fun in public. Somehow we have made Christianity into a dull, sober lifestyle, mistakenly assuming that our joyless existence satisfies God.
When I began to truly follow Jesus, I discovered joy in the journey. My life is no longer defined by a set of rules but rather by abundant life. I have learned to shun the things that are not conducive to abundant life. I am learning to wholeheartedly embrace the things that bring life. Abundant life does not eliminate pain but rather it carries me through the normal pain experienced as a result of living in a sin-tainted world. Abundant life does not negate the mundane, ordinary duties of life, it causes me to rise above the place of being defined by those duties. Abundant life does not always keep me from sinning but it will keep me from living in a place of sin.
I do not believe that our experience at the Waterfront caused abundant life, it was a result of abundant life. Abundant life begins in the heart, in our place of oneness with God. As we heed the longing of our spirit to be united with Him, we discover our heart becoming alive. The "aliveness" in our heart then allows us to experience the fullness of God as expressed in our day to day world.
I believe that the writer of Proverbs understood this as he penned the following words -
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23). My prayer for you is that your heart is well, that you too experience the abundant life!
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