Our 70th Word is Life

The simple definition of life is physical and in the Bible, it’s spiritual, vitality, not possessed by that which is dead or inorganic.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)

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Early in our tour of important (but misunderstood and under-appreciated) Bible words, we paused to ponder the word die. We saw there the logical consequence of spurning the One who is life itself, the One who gives life: a world full of mortuaries and obituaries, graveyards and grief counselors. We saw too the horrifying spiritual consequences: alienation from the living God, consignment to a kind of “living death.”

Thankfully, God wasn’t and isn’t okay with any of that.

Most mentions of life in the New Testament employ the Greek word zoe. This word can simply refer to the miracle of natural, earthly, everyday life, breathing, thinking, eating an omelet, fetching a Frisbee off the roof, type of life. Jesus, however, typically focused on an even more miraculous kind of life, the new, spiritual, supernatural, endless life He came to offer.

Again and again Jesus promised eternal life to those who would trust Him (John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 6:47). He defined that eternal life as knowing God personally and entering into a relationship with Him (John 17:3). He lamented those who “refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:40).

Jesus described himself as “the bread of life” who “gives life to the world”.(John 6:33, 48). He called himself “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25) and, simply, “the life” (John 14:6). To confirm these extravagant claims, on at least three occasions, Jesus brought dead people back from the grave. No wonder His followers called Him “the author of life” (Acts 3:15).

In John 10:10, Jesus described the life He offers His sheep (i.e., His followers) as “life…to the full.” It’s a statement worth contemplating. The adjective full means “extraordinary, more than normal, overflowing, superabundant.” In some contexts, it suggests an amount almost too much to bear.

Questions to Ponder

Here are some questions about life to wrestle with:

1. Who is the most “alive” person you know in your life?
2. Are you living the kind of “full” life Jesus described in John 10:10? If not, what’s keeping you from enjoying this kind of rich life?
3. What in your life seems to be on life support, or maybe even “dead”?
4. What if you invited the risen Christ to live in and through you today? What if you allowed His Spirit to animate you and empower you right now? What remarkable things might you see?