Sunday, November 21, 2010

Why Did Jesus Come

At Christmas time, we focus more on the fact that Jesus came; but I really get excited about what He said about WHY He came! In John 10: 10 Jesus says, “I have come for people to have life and have it till it overflows.” WT

Does your life look like that? He also said that “in the world we will have trouble”; so how can we have both? The following story suggests the answer.

I recently heard a speaker tell the story of a Mogul King in India who had an advisor who never gave advice, but when asked ‘what do you think?’ would reply, “I think it’s God and I think it’s good”. No matter what happened to the King, this was his advisors response—“I think it’s God and I think it’s good.” In one of the skirmishes the king’s thumb was shot off, and when asked what he thought about that, the advisor responded the same—“I think it’s God and I think it’s good”. The king became so angry that he threw the advisor in a well and went on into the next kingdom where he was captured and taken to be killed. Upon seeing his defective thumb his captors released him and said they would never pursue him again. The king returned to the well to find his advisor still alive and asked, ‘what do you think about me throwing you into the well?’ His response was the same, “I think it’s God and I think it’s good.” The king said, ‘how can you say that?’ to which he replied, “If I had been with you they would have seen that my thumb is not defective thumb and they would have killed me.”

I repeat this story because it relates to the fact that God has a purpose and plan for EVERYTHING that happens in our lives. When we choose to see these things from God’s perspective we can be certain that “it is God and it is good”. From our perspective it may not look like it, but Jesus’ promise remains, “I have come for people to have life and have it till it overflows.”

I looked up the meaning of the word ‘overflow’ and came up with words such as abundance, plenty, bountiful, generous, voluminous, prosperity and sufficiency of life’s necessities. THAT”S why Jesus came—to give us that kind of life! Though our outward circumstances may not look like this—our hearts can rejoice when we see things from His perspective. He is our God and He is good!