Live Lent – Week 4 – Life

Jesus is Good News for the world and for your friends because he came to enable all people to have life, not just some and not just a half-life. Abundant life. For all.

Read: John 10:1–21

Some of Jesus’ most strongly worded conversations were with religious leaders. Too often the effect of their teaching and demands on others was to stifle, restrict and burden.

This angered Jesus because that religious expression misrepresented God whose deepest desire for us, and his great gift to us, is life. Life in all its fullness.

Jesus said, ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’ The greatest gift that Jesus offers is life. The life he brings is generous and joyful, it is liberating and purposeful. It is a life lived to the full and it overflows to bring life to others.

Like a good shepherd, Jesus loves deeply and personally – and at great cost. He lets go of his life so that we can receive life.

Pause

Take time today … to consider the things that restrict you and prevent you from living life to the full. What is their root and what is their effect?

Pray

Jesus our Good Shepherd,
Lead us into the delights of your resurrection life.
Nurture in each of us the spark of your presence,
inspire us to sow the seeds of your Kingdom and
give us courage and strength to face the cost.
Amen.

Challenge

1.Enjoy a bit of joyful extravagance! Live life to the full. Perhaps have a party, invite some friends and perhaps even some you don’t yet know well.

2. Deliver a plant to someone who might need a sign of hope and life. Share it with them directly, or leave it on their doorstep as an anonymous gift.