Would you describe your life as abundant? A quick look at the dictionary defines abundant as being available in large quantities or plentiful. Would abundant be a good word to describe your life, or would the opposite be better—scarce? I will admit that sometimes I feel like I’m “missing out” on things. I look at Facebook or Christmas cards and see all the highlights people are sharing. They go on trips or have experiences that are fun, but I’m not. Am I doing something wrong?
A current movie is in the theater called Downsizing. Despite the name, it isn’t about getting fired; it is about being shrunk down in size to about four inches tall. In this theatrical world, downsizing is all the rage, because when you are little things cost less and, therefore, you can live more “life” with less money/resources. I haven’t seen it yet, and I don’t know if I will, but it makes me wonder what people would do to have “more” or to do “more”.
One thing that comes to mind about this movie is that, in theory, everything about life stays the same except the needs are different…smaller. Essentially, nothing changes except perspective. Is it possible to change our perspective without actually shrinking ourselves down? Could we possibly need less and, therefore, be happy with less? Is it possible to take a life that feels scarce and transform it to feel abundant? This is exactly what Life in Christ is all about!
When we are baptized into Christ our life is transformed from one who knows about Christ to one who is with Christ. When we are with Christ, we are able to find joy and hope and peace in our eternal relationship with Him. When we are in Christ, the same life we live takes on a whole new perspective; we find satisfaction in enjoying life in community and purpose in sharing faith with others. The greatest gift we can offer is to pray for one another and that doesn’t cost a penny. The most exciting journey to go on is mentoring another person in the faith. The biggest expense is time.
Being baptized into Christ means that we can put aside the world’s mantra of YOLO (You Only Live Once) and pick up the perspective that each day is a new beginning; a new life to be lived with new experiences to enjoy. We have an eternal life with Christ that literally offers us endless opportunities. Whether the day brings great joy or great trials, we are blessed to be a child of God Almighty. How could we possibly need “more” than that? “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
