The More Abundant Life In Jesus Christ

April 4, 2023 By Jones LaRonda Leave a Comment

Have you ever wished you had help making each of the thousands of decisions you have to make as you go throughout the day? Perhaps you are like me, it seems like deciding what to eat for lunch is one of the hardest decisions. I don’t think anyone likes making a bad decision when it comes to food. The average person supposedly makes around 35,000 decisions every day. That’s a lot if you ask me!

Recently, I was thinking about the fact that the culmination of the decisions we make over time results in the life we live. This compelled me to reflect on the decisions that I am currently making because…hey it’s adding up to be the life I am choosing to live. Then as I was thinking further about this, John 10:10 came to mind just as quickly,

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

I thought to myself, “What does this verse have to do with decision making?” All of a sudden, like light rushing into a dark room, I realized that the more abundant life Jesus offers us is a choice…it’s a decision that we continually make throughout our life. The abundant life is only realized In Jesus Christ!

So imagine this…you encounter a situation where you experience persecution. Persecution is not fun but the Bible gives us instruction in Mathew 5:44 on how to handle this type of situation. You have a choice to make. You could choose to address the situation in your own way and handle it yourself or you could choose to do what God’s Word says…pray! The Bible literally instructs and guides us on how to live life here on earth. It is our instruction manual. Here’s another example, Let’s say a situation arises that tries to bring anxiety. The Bible tells us how to address this situation as well but we still have a choice to make. We can choose to address it in the manner that aligns with God’s Word (found in Philippians 4:6) or we can choose to do our own thing.

In addition to having God’s Word, we have the Holy Spirit as well! He leads us…He guides us…He helps us! Still, it is our choice to yield to Him as He leads us throughout life. Galatians 5:25 says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Our lives are to be aligned with God’s Word and Holy Spirit led.

Ultimately, the more abundant life is realized in Jesus Christ! It is realized by choosing to be a doer of God’s Word. It first starts with the choice to receive Jesus Christ into your heart and accept His gift of salvation. The abundant life Jesus offers cannot be realized apart from Him! Once we have accepted Christ, we continually choose the more abundant life as we choose His way of living. As stated in John 10:10, Jesus came “that [we] may have life, and that [we] may have it more abundantly.” It is our personal choice through our everyday decision making process if we receive the abundant life that has been made available to us all!

Heavenly Father, thank you for helping me to continually make decisions that allow me to realize the abundant life you have made available. I thank you for your promises and I am grateful for the privilege to live life more abundantly In Jesus Christ! Holy Spirit, thank you for continually leading, guiding, and helping me live the life that God has called me to live. I choose to live life more abundantly! In Jesus Name, Amen!

All In

May 31, 2016 By Jones LaRonda Leave a Comment

A friend kindly gave me a pack of gum that I like one day. I told him I no longer chew gum but he left the pack at my desk and I thanked him anyway. A few hours after lunch, he returned to my desk and saw the pack of gum sitting there. He wanted a piece so he took it and opened it to get a piece because he said he initially gave it to me so it was still somewhat his. He believed he still somewhat had ownership of it since he originally owned it. As he said the words, ‘It’s still mine,’ I could only sit back and say wow!! How many of us have done the same thing with God! We tell God, ‘I give you my life! I give myself away! I’m all Your’s God! Use me!’ But as soon as we feel like He’s not using us the way we want to be used we say, ‘It’s still mine. I owned it in the first place, right? So I have the right to take it back.’ When you’re all in for Him though, that’s it…you’re ALL IN!! No turning back! As silly as it sounds to give someone something of yours as a gift and then treat it as if it’s still your own, it’s silly to give your life to God yet still act in a manner that conveys it obviously still belongs to you.

Win-Win

January 19, 2016 By Jones LaRonda 2 Comments

As I was driving home from church after a Sunday morning worship service recently I was talking with God and asked Him, “How do I lose myself without losing myself? Like how do I become selfless without losing myself?” This particular Sunday, the pastor at my church delivered a sermon which was focused on putting God first in everything. If I can be honest, prior to attending the service I remember saying to God, “I think we’re good in the area of keeping first things first.” Quiet Time…check. Tithe…check. And so on…you get the point. From my understanding, I thought God and I were good when it came to putting Him first. Haha! Gotta love the Holy Spirit and how He illuminates things before your eyes. In a nutshell, let’s just say I left that sermon with areas that had room for improvement. God had definitely convicted me…in a good way 🙂 I asked the Lord the question of how to lose myself without losing myself in the car because I was really meditating on the scripture in Mathew 16:25 which says, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.” I was like, “Lord! How much of our life can we lose?” And as quickly as this question came to my mind I felt Him gently whisper to me, “All of it.” Then I was like, “But what about my personality? Like all the little quirks and things about me that make me…well…me?” I seriously felt like He was giving me the side eye at this point and said, “Really? Do you hear yourself?” He lovingly reassured me that it’s so not about me. Life is beyond what I can see. What I meant by my question was how do I lose my life as it’s mentioned in Matthew 16:25 without losing my identity. But as I continued thinking about this, I remembered that my identity is found in Christ so it’s a win-win. If I lose myself in Him I will look more like Him 🙂 In the midst of all of this, I asked the Lord to change my heart and my perspective and He gave me an analogy. Imagine a person who loses their identity in another person, particularly in a romantic relationship. Let’s say a girl has a certain group of friends and is involved in numerous extracurricular activities. She then meets a guy and now her entire world literally revolves around him, so she pretty much lets go of anything that doesn’t have to do with him. Whatever he likes, she likes. Whatever he wants to do, she does too. Wherever he goes, she goes. They are literally inseparable as a couple! When you see one, you see the other. They literally are like one. But imagine if instead of losing herself in another person, this girl loses her identity in Christ! After the Holy Spirit revealed this to me everything seemed to make sense. When we lose our life, for the sake of Christ, we actually find it 🙂