Life Abundantly

In the early 2000’s, there was a craze with TV shows that focused on survival. From shows like “Survivor,” to “Survivorman” (a man named Les Stroud who would be left in various locations in remote wilderness to survive for seven days), to “Man Vs. Wild” (which followed Bear Grylls who didn’t just try to survive, but to make it out from the wilderness to civilization), all of these shows glorified the idea of “survival” and what it takes to stay alive in the wilderness. And this fascination with survival continues today with shows like “Life Below Zero,” “Alone,” and even a show called “Naked and Afraid.”

The reason that these shows gained so much popularity is because survival is an interesting thing. There’s a certain allure of “surviving” and staying alive when nature or some other power is threatening us. In a sense, survival is almost romanticized, as though survival is a glamorous thing! But if you ask anyone who has ever been in a situation where they need to survive, it’s not all fun and games. I can’t help but to think of the 102 colonists who came over on the Mayflower in 1620, where only 55 of them survived the first winter. For those people, surviving meant watching family members and loved ones die while not being able to help them. Or there is the famous story of the Donner Party, a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. Of the 87 who migrated, only 48 of them survived, while those who passed succumbed to starvation, sickness, and extreme cold. For those who survived, I’m sure “survival” wasn’t glamorous or “fun” and didn’t keep the adrenaline pumping. It was about trying not to die…and even the best odds of survival looked bleak!

Have you ever felt this struggle for survival? Have you ever been in life-or-death situation where you felt as though there’s a good chance that you will die? Though I’m sure you’ve been in difficult situations in your life, my guess is that there has probably never been a time where you thought that you were actually in a survival situation where, if you didn’t do something, you would die…at least not physically.

But what if I told you that the story in Scripture is that we have all (maybe even are currently) in this struggle for survival, only the chances of surviving are zero? Scripture says to us in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and because of our sin, Romans 6:23 says the “wages of sin is death.” This death is an eternal separation from God and includes being barred from the Kingdom of Heaven. Each of us is guilty of this sin, which is a transgressing of God’s perfect Law. In our sin, there is no hope. Death is upon us.

The worst part about this is that there is nothing we can do that will help us survive, let alone thrive and find life! It’s as though our struggle to survive only tightens the noose around our necks; our insistence on surviving on our own saps our energy and drains us, leaving us without hope of life! When we insist that “we can do it ourselves” and survive on our own, it only shows the depth of our sin that entangles us. In the extended form of our Doxology that we sing at church from time to time, there is a line that says, “My best good works are powerless to satisfy your righteousness.” Even our best isn’t good enough. Isaiah 64:6 says, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”

But in the direst of circumstances, when we know that we are as good as dead, which of us wouldn’t cry out and plead for help? Which of us would be too prideful to say we can’t do it on our own? It is only here, in that moment of desperation, do we hear the life-giving word of our Savior that bids us to come and find not just survival, but life and “life abundantly,” (John 10:10). Because of His victory over sin, because He is Lord over it, He gives us the gift of eternal life that declares that though we may die in this life, yet shall we live! He gives us the hope and promise of resurrection, that we won’t merely survive to live another of life on this earth, but that we will live eternally in an Eternal Kingdom in Heaven where death will be no more! This is the gift of life! This is the hope offered to us through faith in Christ!

Sometimes it can feel like we’re just trying to survive this life. If that is you today, take a moment to stop and remember that God has made it so that we don’t just survive. We have hope. We have a promise. This promise meets you today: that we have life in us through Christ and we have it abundantly!


Sincerely in Christ,
Pastor Evan