{"id":7414,"date":"2011-10-05T13:00:01","date_gmt":"2011-10-05T17:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mintools.com\/blog\/?p=7414"},"modified":"2026-07-27T16:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T20:19:10","slug":"abundant-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mintools.com\/blog\/abundant-life.htm","title":{"rendered":"Living an Abundant Life? – Jesus’ Claim"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jesus'<\/a>
\n“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 — Jesus, Jn. 10:10<\/span><\/p>\n

What do Jesus words mean to you?\u00a0 What does\u00a0His claim\u00a0mean for your ministry?<\/p>\n

To answer those questions you need to first understand just what He is saying.<\/p>\n

Begin By Better Understanding Jesus’ Claim to Give Abundant Life<\/h2>\n

John 10 lays the groundwork for Jesus’ claim with an analogy about how the gate is the only legitimate way into the sheep pen.\u00a0 Then He asserts, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (Jn. 10:7-9)<\/span><\/p>\n

Thieves and robbers try to get in by other ways to steal or destroy the sheep.\u00a0 They don’t care about the sheep other than profiting off of them.\u00a0 In contrast, Jesus, who later in the chapter is identified as the Good Shepherd, protects and provides for the sheep.<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”<\/em><\/p>\n

“I”<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n

“I” refers to the One who is the Gate, the way in.\u00a0 Remember what Jesus said in John 14:6,<\/span> “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”<\/p>\n

For More, Go To: Living an Abundant Life is Possible Because of Jesus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

“have come”<\/strong><\/div>\n
This refers to Jesus’ first coming wherein He ultimately died on the cross to make it possible for us to enter into a relationship with God.<\/div>\n
“that”<\/strong><\/div>\n
There was a reason for Jesus’ coming.\u00a0 In Luke 19:10 Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”\u00a0 John 10:10 takes that verse a step further.<\/span><\/div>\n
“they”<\/strong><\/div>\n
Jesus came for the sheep who needed a Shepherd (Mk. 6:34).\u00a0 These are people for whom He has compassion who are “harassed and helpless” (Matt. 9:36).\u00a0 Each of the individual sheep matter to Him (Lk. 15:4-7).<\/span><\/div>\n
“may have”<\/strong><\/div>\n
The word “may” indicates that they are able to have life.\u00a0 Jesus made the reality of this kind of life possible.\u00a0 Also notice that it says “have” — present tense, not “will have.”\u00a0 This is not simply a future hope but a present reality.<\/div>\n
“life”<\/strong><\/div>\n
Jesus gave lost sheep the ability to live, truly live.\u00a0 Without Christ we are living in death, eternal separation from God — nothingness.\u00a0 He, however, came so that we may have eternal life, His life in us — something of great value and meaning.<\/div>\n
“and have it to the full”<\/strong><\/div>\n
Jesus came not just to give life but fullness of life\u00a0 — a vibrant, flowing life, not a trickle of it or an occasional flow.\u00a0 Nothing is stagnant about this life but rather energized and going somewhere.\u00a0 Be sure to note that He is not saying He came to give a problem-free life but a full life.\u00a0 In John 16:33<\/span> Jesus warns that “in this world you will have trouble.”\u00a0 Part of what it means to have an abundant, full life, then, is that even in a world filled with troubles, you can have joy and be content and at peace because He goes on to say, “But take heart! I have overcome the world.”<\/div>\n

Now that you have taken a closer look at the verse, let me again ask — What do Jesus words mean to you?\u00a0 What does His claim\u00a0mean for your ministry?<\/p>\n

In the next post we’ll look at the difference this abundant life makes<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” — Jesus, Jn. 10:10 What do Jesus words mean to you? What does His claim mean for your ministry? To answer those questions you need to first . . . Continue reading Living an Abundant Life? – Jesus’ Claim<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc-walk-with-god"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\t\t