The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

One of the most famous episodes of "I Love Lucy" has Lucy and Ethel working in a chocolate factory wrapping chocolate. When the belt speeds up Lucy is forced to eat some of the chocolate. She stuffs them in her mouth as fast as she can. Still faster she begins stuffing them in her blouse. The girls had far more chocolate than they bargained for.

It’s not often in life that we have more than we bargain for. There was a man at a church some years ago who asked me every time I visited him, "Preacher why am I still here?" He was well into his nineties and outlived all his family and friends. His health was poor and his mind was going. More days of life were a burden to him. He was a church-going man, a good man who committed his life to God.

Let us be thankful that Jesus says to us that He has come to give us abundant life or to have life to the full. What He means is that life is valuable and rewarding both in the here and now and the eternal life. Our days both here and now and eternally are filled with the things of God.

A lady even older than my friend was bed-ridden. Every time I visited her she would be smiling and full of conversation. Her hands were busy making dollies. The days were not a burden and she lived past one hundred. She loved God and shared her faith with all that she met.

What we need to realize is that life is neither about being filled with purpose nor about connections with others. It is not about pleasure or productivity. Life is about God. Our days here are like a mist at sunrise in the summer over a low meadow or lake. It is only there a matter of minutes before the heat of the sun evaporates it. Life’s many days here on this earth are soon gone and we enter into eternity to spend either with God or separated from Him. If life has been lived with and about God it has been full and abundant. Such a life is only possible when Jesus is Savior and Lord for He has given us such life.