We Can Live Life To The Full

By David Snyder

Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10

I think we all realize that many Christians are not living life to the full. Why is it that many Christians never change that much after accepting Christ? If Jesus made the promise of a life “to the full” then what is wrong? What is it that many do not understand?

There is a truth the enemy wants to hide from every believer. It may be one of his greatest secrets. And even if we know what I am about to share, it is vital that we review these truths in order to defeat the enemy of our souls.

THE GREAT TRUTH
Adam’s one sin so affected his offspring that God had no choice but to bring a flood upon the earth to destroy all human beings. Even after the flood the sin factor remained in the bloodline of Noah and his family.
God had a solution. Jesus would come to earth and become the second Adam. Where the first Adam failed, Jesus lived in perfect obedience to God the Father. He eventually went to the cross and paid the price for the sins of each one of us.
But, something else had to take place to complete God’s plan. Mankind needed to be delivered from his ugly sin nature. The solution was incredible. The second Adam would adopt us into His family.

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be
blameless and holy in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 1:5

THE PROBLEM
Even though we know we are adopted into the second Adam, many Christians never really change that much after conversion. Why is this? Maybe we don’t understand all there is to this adoption we have in Christ. When a child is adopted into an earthly family that child comes with all the hang-ups inherited from his birth family. The moment he or she is officially adopted, the child has not really changed at that point. He has just changed families. It isn’t up the new parents to help the child understand what privileges and opportunities they now have available. The child must now choose to grow and mature in the new environment.

When we accept Christ we come with all the baggage we learned or inherited from our birth parents. We still have the sin nature of the first Adam. What has changed is the rights and privileges we now have in the family of the second Adam. We read all the scriptures about victory, being a new creation, the work of the Holy Spirit for us, etc. But, many times few things change. At least not for long.

The Bible promises us that we can take on the divine nature of our new Father. Everything promised is available to us if we are willing to fight for it. It does not come naturally. The old Adam nature will always strive to rob us of what the second Adam has provided for us. We are at war. The war continues every day. We know this when we read the first part of John 10:10. Many times we skip over this part to get to the good stuff. But it is vital. The verse says: “The thief comes only to rob, destroy, and to kill…” The old statement “let go and let God” is a lie of the enemy. We are the ones that must fight. We fight by guarding our hearts from negative thoughts, impure thoughts, fearful thoughts, doubts, and all the rest that can come to take away our joy and our victory.

We must fight for ourselves and for our families. Prayer and reading the Word are two great weapons we must use. Jesus came to give us life to the full. We can choose to live in the first Adam or the second Adam. We must never forget that we have all the rights a child in the family of the second Adam.

Let’s fight for what God offers us. We have rights. Let’s go after them. God will do His part. He is faithful! We can live life to the full. As Paul said: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

Dave Snyder writes from Milwaukie, Oregon.