Truly Living Series

“Christ said,” and the nun paused a moment, “He said, ‘I don’t remember.’”

We have a God who not only forgives but forgets! But often we are not experiencing the abundant life because we have not forgiven ourselves.

Look at the great news of Romans 5:6 (read through verse 11). While we were still sinners, Christ died to provide us forgiveness for our sins. Reconciliation is available to us. God has cleared the path. Abundant life is just on the other side of that temptation to say, “God can’t forgive me. I’ve been too bad. I can’t even forgive myself.”

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Here’s a big one. Another barrier to the abundant life.

4. FINDING OUR VALUE IN THE WORLD’S IDENTITY

I like the story of a pipe burst in a doctor’s house, and he called a plumber. The plumber arrived, unpacked his tools, did mysterious plumber-type things for a while, and handed the doctor a bill for $600.

The doctor exclaimed, "This is ridiculous! Even I don’t make that much as a doctor!"

The plumber waited for him to finish and quietly said, "Neither did I when I was a doctor."

Where do you find your value? Is it in your job title? The money you make? The way others look at you?

Calvin had figured this one out. Remember little Calvin from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips? In one of the strips Calvin is talking to Susie, his arch-enemy, about a test they had just taken. Calvin asked her: "What grade did you get?"

Susie says, “I got an A.” Calvin replies, “Really? Boy, I’d hate to be you. I got a C.”

Curious, Susie asks, “Why on earth would you rather get a C than an A?!”

To which Calvin smugly replies, “I find my life is a lot easier the lower I keep everyone’s expectations.” He wasn’t going to let the world identify his success for him.

Where do you find your identity? What if we all started to buy this identity, “I am a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special person, so that I may proclaim the praises of Him who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light; once I was not a person, but now I belong to God. I had not obtained mercy, but now I have.”

That is the identity God gives us in I Peter 2. That is the identity of the abundant life: a chosen generation, God’s own special person, His precious possession.

Well, I can see by the old clock on the wall that it is time to wrap it up, and that brings us to our final barrier to the abundant life.

5. TIME

Let me show you a little illustration about time this morning. When things in your lives seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, and time is robbing you of the abundant life, I want you to remember this jar and a cup of coffee.

(utilized props to act out illustration)

That’s the illustration a professor used in his philosophy class. He picked up a large, empty jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full, and they agreed that it was. So then the professor picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls, and he then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.