Harvesting The Abundant LifeSample

What is the abundant life? 

What is the abundant life? Is it riches? Is it comfort and a life with no difficulties? Is it having everything we desire? The Bible teaches us that these things do not satisfy. Solomon was the wealthiest man on earth, and he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes to inform the rest of us that having everything you want does not, in fact, satisfy the soul. Solomon proved it by pursuing all the worldly pleasures. He went after them all and indulged his every craving. Still, he wound up empty. They couldn’t fulfill what he really needed. 

God designed us. We are hardwired with needs beyond the tangible things this world can provide. What we actually crave is God Himself and the kind of life that He coded into our “spiritual DNA” to be the only existence that will satisfy us. Yeshua (Jesus) died to impart to us this life, but we can easily push it aside as we long for earthly treasures instead. 

We live in a physical world with tangible things that please us. The emotions of delight and comfort when they are present – or disappointment and difficulty when they’re not – can cause us to mistake this world’s treasures for what we really desire.
What we need – what is programmed to truly satisfy us and deliver real life – is of the Spirit. When we desire pleasures, what we truly want is joy. When we long for easy circumstances, what we truly crave is peace and rest in our souls. God’s joy transcends circumstances, and His peace transcends what this earth can offer. The harvest we genuinely want is found in Galatians 5:22‒23: “But the fruit of the Ruach is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control….”
 

God has already imparted to us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We have it. Our old man lurks around, however, and he tries to be in charge of what we pursue in search of happiness. The old man’s seeds yield a puny, inconsistent harvest. We want an abundant harvest! Refusing to fall for the promises of inferior fruit involves deliberately planting spiritual seed. 

  
Though our salvation is not based on works (Ephesians 2:8‒9), it does take some intentional effort to harvest the abundant life God has placed in us. Proverbs 20:4 notes that “A slacker will not plow in season, so at harvest, he looks but finds nothing.” If we dedicate ourselves to life-giving planting, the fruit of the Spirit will mature in due time. 

Another thing is true: The more we plant, the more we harvest. “The point is this,” Paul tells the Corinthians, “whoever sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). How much we enjoy the abundant life God has bestowed on us, in this regard, is left to us.