Live the Life, pt. 3 "that they may have life" (or Live Life)

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Jesus came with a specific purpose and He spoke often about His mission. He said, “I came that they may have life.”

Christ came and He did not come just to hang out with us. He did not come just to learn what it is like to be a human. He did not come just to show us how to be well-behaved individuals. He did not come just so he could look at us in our struggles and say, “Yeah, I feel you man.”

He came to make something a possibility that was not previously available. His coming made life an option for a people who were made to live life. Apart from the coming of Christ human existence had been, and is currently, marked by the effects of death and decay. But, in the coming of Christ, life came to man.

Note that Christ said “that they may.” The life that Christ has brought is made available to all. It is available to all, but not experienced by all. Not everyone has chosen to take and experience the life that Christ has offered. Many have not even heard of the offer.

So, the question becomes, what am I doing to make sure that people know that Christ has come that they may have life? Do my daily actions reflect a conviction that Christ has come in order that people may experience life?

“Life is for living, we all know.”
Coldplay

“For in the theatres, dens of iniquity though they be, if a man is fond of a particular actor, and enjoys his art as a great or even as the very greatest good, he is fond of all who join with him in admiration of his favorite, not for their own sakes, but for the sake of him whom they admire in common; and the more fervent he is in his admiration, the more he works in every way he can to secure new admirers for him, and the more anxious he becomes to show him to others; and if he find any one comparatively indifferent, he does all he can to excite his interest by urging his favorite’s merits: if, however, he meet with any one who opposes him, he is exceedingly displeased by such a man’s contempt of his favorite, and strives in every way he can to remove it. Now, if this be so, what does it become us to do who live in the fellowship of the love of God, the enjoyment of whom is true happiness of life, to whom all who love Him owe both their own existence and the love they bear Him.”
- Augustine in On Christian Doctrine