Life is the crown jewel of human existence. It holds immeasurable value. Without life, we have nothing. This is why Jesus said greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). If life then is our most valuable possession, then the love that persuades us to give it up is of the greatest kind – a love surpassing all.

The Abundant Life

Christians are born again into this very kind of love. It’s a love bold enough to relinquish life. Yet, no one does this without cause or reason. We are only willing to give up something for the sake of something more worthy. What then could be more valuable than life? The promise of abundant, eternal life.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 16:25

It’s a radical notion, isn’t it? To lose in order to find. Humanity has long held to a limited perception that is tethered to the passing realities of this world. Life, as we see it, revolves around birth and death, failing to acknowledge our immortal souls. Physical death is not the end. Our earthly departure isn’t the ultimate end; there’s a vastness beyond the grave. And to possess this eternal life we must be willing to lose the temporal one. And Jesus came to give us that life, the one that does not perish and cannot be taken away from us.

Life, therefore, extends beyond our numbered days; it transcends the temporal. It’s an eternity beside Jesus, an existence interwoven with the divine, where every pursuit and toil finds its culmination in glorifying God. Jesus spoke of abundant life.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 10:10

An existence beyond the confines of mere survival. He invites us to delve deeper, beyond the surface of our routine, to discover a life in its purest form—one rooted in God. For life, at its very core, is an overflow of God’s existence and therefore, we find our truest selves when we are closest to the source of life. We must decrease and he must increase.

Towards a definition

If life is more than we’ve commonly come to understand it, then we need to start again with a proper definition.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6

We tend to think of life as something we possess rather than thinking about it as someone who is. Life at its core is not the breath that we possess or the living that we do, but it is the person of Christ. God is life. Life isn’t the mere possession of our personhood—it is the eternal Christ. God encompasses life; He is both its sustainer and giver.

nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Acts 17:25

Therefore, we must not fail to recognise that life is a gift. It has been given to us and it is the most precious gift that we have. And this life is so intricately woven with God that treasuring it without the life-giver is suicide – an existence with no meaning or purpose. It misses the point entirely. The most valuable gift that we have is life and that life is from God who is the source of all life. Crafted in God’s image, our purpose echoes in glorifying the One who shaped us. Embracing Christ immerses us in life’s wellspring, drawing closer to the divine.

Embracing the gift of life

Jesus declared himself the “bread of life,” offering sustenance beyond the perishable needs of our bodies. Just as our physical hunger seeks nourishment, our souls crave the divine. Life, then, becomes a matter of the spirit—a continuous feast on the spiritual sustenance found in Christ. In the pursuit of life, we often prioritize the material over the spiritual, unaware that they aren’t mutually exclusive.

If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:19

The life we now live is only a part of the life we will live forever. Therefore the bread that feeds our souls is worth more than the bread that fills our stomachs.

Let us, then, recalibrate our understanding of life. Let us seek the abundant life promised by Christ, where our existence is intertwined with God Himself, finding sustenance not just for our perishable bodies but for our imperishable souls.

In losing ourselves to the divine purpose, we truly find life—life in its fullest, most eternal form. Christ, the essence of life, beckons us to a profound reality where existence transcends the temporal, and our souls find their eternal rest. God is our greatest treasure and the one who treasures him as such finds the gift of life.

This devotion is based on chapters 15 and 16 of 'Come all ye Weary', a book I wrote that will be coming out early next year. Pre-Book your copy now and get a 20% discount.