The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. – John 10:10 ESV

Jesus longs that we’ll live our lives to the full – He truly does. But that abundant life he speaks of is, of course, so much more than simply lip service on a Sunday or our well-rehearsed prayers. Instead, it’s about honesty and wholehearted surrender to him.

When we can get to this place, it means we truly understand that we, too, are choosing ‘what is best’. We, too, are understanding that there is nothing else that compares to a moment at the feet of Jesus like Mary had, as we explored yesterday.

And of course, it’s not just Mary. The psalmist echoed this sentiment in Psalm 84:10.

Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

In this verse, we hear a similar refrain – a sentiment which suggests that a seemingly ‘low’ position before God is still better than the highest, most noble position there is without him.

The familiar ‘my God’ in this verse instantly speaks to me of relationship. This is not ‘the God’, ‘a God’, or even ‘God’, this is MY God. My Father, the One I cling to. When we cultivate relationship, and are in turn reminded that God is in no way distant or far off, we too recognise that our acts of service are only ever going to play a small part in the much, much bigger story of surrender.

The Word of God is one of the most crucial places within which we, God’s children, truly get to understand how wonderful this truth really is. It’s within those pages where we recall and remind ourselves of not only who we are, but also whose we are, which is ultimately more important.

We will never understand our identity, our calling, our purpose – all of the things we often seek to understand first – until we’re able to understand He whose image we have been created in.

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 NIV)

This often quoted verse is equally as often misquoted. We can read this and sometimes find ourselves believing that it’s saying that God loves us so much, He will give us whatever we want. But when we pause and think, we realise that our human nature sometimes desires things which, ultimately, are no good for us.

Real love – Indeed, God’s love gives us the things HE desires for us. But the beautiful truth about that is, the more we get to know Him, the more we DELIGHT in HIM as the scripture states, the more our desires line up with the things he longs for us to have anyway.