"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly"
life: The Greek word here is zoe, which means life. There are three kinds of "life" mentioned in the Bible: Zoe, Bios, and Psuche. Each is an emphasis on a different aspect or different kind of living.
Zoe is human life and vitality and especially refers to the fullness of God's life and living on an ethical plane.
Bios has to do with biological life or being alive versus being dead or being alive versus being inanimate. Biologically alive is the gist of it.
Psuche is the soul life which takes place in the mind, will, emotions, and heart. It is our soul, that mysterious software, which guides what we do and to which we can add throughout our life. That part of our life which we are to present to God at the end of our lives for his evaluation, whether we have learned any wisdom.
What we call being born again or being saved is just hooking up to the power and life of God. Being saved is not the end of the story. You and I are supposed to do something with our salvation. God was in Christ bringing about the ability for flawed human beings to hook up to the power and life of God so that they could do what they cannot do on their own. If salvation does not result in greater love for all the relationships of life, then it is not salvation. Salvation is not meant to be an ecstatic personal experience. It is meant to be the beginning of a whole new way of life. Salvation allows us to connect to the love of God. It allows us to connect to the wisdom of God. Salvation asks us to produce love for God and love of others. It is like hooking your limp fire hose to the fire hydrant and all of a sudden you have water. Your useless little hose has all the water it wants. Salvation is designed to allow you to fill the rooms of your life with love and thereby experience abundant life.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz