I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:10
A couple decades ago this week I was gathering all the required stuff for a young man's dorm room and preparing myself for the great adventure of higher learning on the beautiful campus of Culver-Stockton College in Canton, MO. My goals were simple. I would earn my bachelors degree in Business Administration with a Computer Science emphasis so that I could make a fortune and lift my family out of the cycle of being working class poor. I was one of the first members of my family to leave my hometown for college and eventually the first to get a degree. All of my family members had the potential for success in college. I was simply fortunate to receive great scholarships and government grants. My first goal was to make money. My next goal was to find a partner for life, well actually the whole "for life" concept may not have been an early part of the goal, looking back.
Many of our brightest young adults are about to pack up their coordinating dorm room accessories and make the move from being a child at home, under the guidance of their omnipresent parents, to being a college student away from the values and security of home, where they will have ample opportunity to explore their once recognizable boundaries. And, many will have the same simple goals I had when I carried my little used refrigerator in to James Shannon Hall.
We preach to our children that they must get an education, they must graduate from high school, they must attend a college or university and they must earn at least a bachelor's degree so that they may obtain gainful employment. I believe in the power of education. I agree that education should never be an option. And, I have to pause when I contemplate the basic reason most folks employ in their argument for the importance of a high quality education, to make money of course. Have I mentioned that my first goal was discarded during my first semester of accounting?
Many have learned the same lessons that I have learned over the decades since I left The Hill of C-SC. We have learned that living an abundant life is not all about how much stuff you are able to stuff into your life. We have learned that an abundant life is one that lives without the fear of scarcity that our financial systems are based upon and use to manipulate consumers. We have learned that the abundant life that Jesus told his followers he had come to bring is not a pie in the sky dream about the hereafter, but rather the design God has for all of creation right here and right now.
In John's gospel, Jesus tells us that his way of living provides access to an abundant life. I'm not advocating a pietistic view of discipleship as the way to abundant living (ie. praying a certain way to achieve abundance). I'm not suggesting that legalistic literalism is the way to abundant living either (ie. taking a teaching of scripture out of historical context and slamming ourselves or someone else over the head with it). What I am suggesting is that as the one who taught forgiveness, who shared all his resources and invited others to share theirs as well, who welcomed those cast out from societal acceptance, who served others in humilty, and who came as Lord over all lords, Jesus paved the way for having an abundant life. He provided all the data for our GPS to abundant life.
When we fall for the old trickery of scarcity, we fool ourselves into building bigger barns for our wealth, we fool ourselves into a narcissistic worldview that claims that we are truly the most important people on the planet, we fool ourselves into learning for personal financial gain. An abundant life really is possible for everyone, and it is not all about how much money we have. One of the easiest ways to begin living the abundant life is to give something away - share what you have with others. What would our world be like if every entering college student had this simple goal: to make a difference for the common good? How would our world be different if all the efforts of our youngest and brightest were focused on improving the common good instead of one's bottom line? Would we all not have a truly abundant life?
Oh, as for the second simple goal I had when I arrived on campus, that one has been a complete success!
Peace & Joy!
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