That You May Have Life

If I wanted, I could choose to ignore my thoughts and feelings. I could choose to remain busy, never slowing down enough to be still. More often than I’d like to admit, this is the route I take. I pull up work emails while waiting in line; I scroll through Instagram while stopped at a light; I immediately turn on a show when the tasks for the day are done. If I’m being honest, this compulsion to be constantly busy and occupied with something is often a form of numbing, of distracting from what’s going on inside me: the anxiety, the fear, the hurt I might be feeling. I’m guessing you can probably relate to this as well.

While not a Christian, Comedian Louis CK understands this tendency. When on Conan OBrien’s late-night talk show, he said,

“Sometimes when things clear away, you’re not watching anything, you’re in your car, and you start going, ‘Oh no, here it comes. That I’m alone.’ It starts to visit on you. Just this sadness. Life is tremendously sad, just by being in it…That’s why we text and drive. I look around, pretty much 100 percent of the people driving are texting. And they’re killing, everybody’s murdering each other with their cars. But people are willing to risk taking a life and ruining their own because they don’t want to be alone for a second because it’s so hard.”

For this comedian who identifies as an agnostic, forgoing distractions and facing reality means accepting the meaningless nature of life. He says, “Underneath everything in your life there is that thing, that empty, forever empty. That knowledge that it’s all for nothing and that you’re alone.”

When you release your distractions and find yourself alone with your thoughts, do you feel this sense of loneliness? Of emptiness? I know in my own life, I’ve struggled with wondering if there’s a point to it all: to trying to do something meaningful with my life; to seeking to care for the people around me…

Many of us believe in Jesus, and yet we are experiencing a diminished sense of his gift of life. We profess that in God there is meaning and satisfaction, but our day-to-day is still often laced with disillusionment and emptiness.

The Gospel writer John declares that the purpose of his writing is that we might have life, and life abundantly in Jesus (John 10:10). Jesus is not content with our diminished experience of his life but rather desires to lead us deeper and deeper into it, infusing purpose, joy and hope into our lived experiences! One way John explores the nature of this life in Christ is through seven statements Jesus makes about himself through the book. These are known as the “I Am” statements.

Central to each statement is Jesus’s claim to be God. “I Am” was the name God pronounced for himself in the Old Testament. God said to Moses in Exodus 3:14, “ “I am who I am.” So, when Jesus says “I am the bread of life,” or “I am the light of the world,” he is calling us to look upon him and trust him as Lord and God. He reveals a different aspect of his lordship in each “I Am statement,” a unique blessing of life that we receive in him.

In pursuit of a deeper experience of this life Jesus offers, we’re going to examine these seven “I Am” statements throughout this devotional series. We’ll explore how Jesus is:

1: The Bread of Life: he satisfies us and gives us rest from our striving.

2: The Light of the World: he opens our eyes to his love so that we might find freedom from our sin.

3. The Gate for his sheep and 4. The Good Shepherd: he leads us down the path of flourishing.

5. The Resurrection and the Life: he gives us an ever-deepening relationship with him and encounter of his glory, a reality that gives us hope in the midst of suffering

6. The Way, the Truth, and the Life: he comforts us in our fear with the promise of our future in him.

7. The True Vine: he abides in us and we in him that we might bear spiritual fruit.

Through the Gospel of John, Jesus is calling us into a life with him. He invites us -

Set aside your distractions and face that fear, that anxiety, that emptiness you’ve been avoiding. Face it, and then come to me, because I’ve come to exchange the things of darkness for the things of light. I’ve come to give you abundant life in myself.

The life of Jesus flows out to us as we believe in him, not just once for salvation but continually as we exercise trust in him and the promises he has given us.

RESPOND: Take a moment to reflect on the state of your heart. Write down any fear, anxieties, or stressors that come to mind. Then surrendering the contents of your heart to God, ask him to draw you deeper into his abundant life.