We make life complicated. We make figuring out life complicated. We add our caveats. We include our “what ifs”. We introduce our “unique” circumstances. We conjure up our philosophical objections. We fabricate excuse after excuse, ad nauseum. All in a vain effort to create more to life than the simple formula above.

Jesus boils it down for us right to the very core meaning and course of life. It all comes down to this – death or life! Note carefully there is ONLY one plan for the thief. All of his enticements, all of his temptations, all of his deceptions and lies, they all have the same end in mind – steal, kill, and destroy. He’s crafty for sure. He doesn’t sell you death that looks like death! He places what appears to be beauty and pleasure and fame and excitement before us. But it’s only a thin façade. Underneath all that good looking, good feeling, good thinking veneer is death, decay, and destruction.

There’s always the other side though. Just as the thief ONLY comes to do what he does, so Jesus ONLY gives life – and abundant at that! For sure, it may not appear that way at first. The best things are always the hard things. The greatest things are never the easiest things. It’s not easy to die to self. It’s not easy to walk away from instant pleasure. It’s not easy to take the high road. It’s not easy to surrender all and trust Jesus with your life and with your eternal soul. But right behind the temporary displeasure of refusing self and embracing Christ, there is LIFE! Abundant LIFE! Eternal LIFE! Real living – and living forevermore.