“I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 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 10v9-10
I’m sure to most of us the passage above is very familiar. Jesus’ amazing words contain the promise of life to the full. On my drive back home from school pick-up today I drove past a church that references ‘life to the full’ as part of its mission statement, shown boldly on its noticeboard outside. ‘Life to the Full’ - Sounds good, but what does it mean, and are you experiencing it?
I’ve included verse 9 above as well, to remind us that Jesus makes this promise in the context of describing himself as being ‘the gate’. If you get a chance, re-visit these verses in the context of chapter 10 and you’ll see that Jesus is talking to a group of Pharisees and is using the gate metaphor as a reference to shepherding sheep. Pharisees were some of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, often known for legalism, misapplying the scriptures, and self-exaltation. ‘Pharisaic’ means to be self-righteous or hypocritical. So, when Jesus is talking to them about ‘Life to the Full’ being made possible through him ‘as the gate’, he is saying there is a new reality to embrace which is contrary to the pharisaic reality they are experiencing. And what is the new reality – the ability and confidence of ‘finding pasture’. Pasture is where the sheep will find the nutrients, food, and space to exercise, which is essential for them to live healthy lives, grow and develop. The implication of the passage is clear – Jesus’ way provides the pasture we need, whereas the alternative (the way of the thief) would seek to steal away these benefits, replacing the pasture with something less healthy. It is easy to think about the Pharisees as the villains in this story, but the villain is actually the ‘thief’ who wants to steal, kill and destroy. Many Pharisees were actually striving to serve God, but getting distracted along the way by the many things they had to do. So, when Jesus speaks to them in this passage, he is trying to show them a better way…
So why am I writing about this today?
Because Jesus refers to the holistic term of ‘Life’ being to the full, not just an aspect of life. In verse 9 he says ‘they will come in and go out’, which conjures up for me the imagery of every day activity, - work, rest and play. You see, Jesus wants us to experience fullness in every aspect of our lives.
He is not preoccupied with
Ministry ‘to the full’
Working hours ‘to the full’
Church ‘to the full’
He is not saying he has come so that we may have a life full of church, ministry, and work, certainly not in the way we’ve often allowed it to become.
Over nearly two decades of Christian ministry, I have regularly heard busyness cited as the ‘go-to’ answer when you ask “How are things at the moment?”. Do you resonate with this? Think about the conversations you’ve had recently. How many times have you heard, “There’s a lot on at the moment”, “I’m really busy at work”. “It’s so hectic, this week is getting away from me”.
Is this how we’re meant to be?
I’ve been a culprit of this at times, more often earlier in my career than now, and as I look back with a degree of hindsight, I can see the correlation that the times when I was most busy were often the times when I was least fruitful. Why is this?
The sheep referred to in Jesus’ words, know where the pasture can be found, because they know the Shepherd, follow his voice, and enter by his gate. Can you imagine a sheep missing out on the food, exercise, sunshine, and community that it needs because it was too busy to listen to the shepherd? “I can’t go through the gate into that field, I’ve got far too much on. You have no idea what my day pla-a-a-a-a-nner looks like today.”
I’m writing with what I hope is a simple encouragement today.
Aim to be fruitful, not busy. And when aiming to be fruitful, this is for your whole life, not just your work. In one conversation with a church leader, where they were trying to justify their extensive workload, I was told ‘But for me, this is a whole life calling, it’s not just a job’. This is an admirable sentiment, but it misses out on the reality that the ‘whole life calling’ is for the ‘whole of life’ – the clue is in the name’. Let’s not restrict what God is wanting to bring about in and through us, to just our work in the church – there’s so much more on offer and it’s called ‘Life to the full’.
A number of years ago I read a book called ‘Too busy not to pray’. The book had a simple premise that you don’t cut out time praying because of busyness, as this is counterproductive. If you’re busy, you need to pray more. If you’re stressed, you need to pray more. I can’t agree more, but here are a few other important statements for you as well:
Too busy not to enjoy myself
Too busy not to exercise
Too busy not to rest
Too busy not to enjoy quiet, stillness, and inactivity.
Too busy not to invest in friends and family.
Too busy not to learn and develop myself.
Too busy not to retreat and plan.
You may be familiar with the time management tool, the Eisenhower Matrix. Importance and urgency plotted on the opposing axis will help you prioritise how you need to apply your time. The idea is that you Focus on the ‘Urgent and Important’, Ignore the ‘Not-urgent and Not important’, and delegate or delay the other.
It’s a great tool, but the problem occurs when we choose only to apply it to our work lives and to-do lists, not our whole lives. Remember, Jesus is interested in us having ‘Life to the Full’.
What would happen if we applied this matrix to our whole lives, recognising that some of the capacity within the ‘Urgent and Important’ quadrant will need to go towards rest, prayer, inactivity, exercise, retreat, fun, friendships and those things which tend to our emotional, spiritual, physical and mental wellbeing? These things are of course important, but are they urgent? Ask someone who has experienced the reality of burnout or long-term absence from stress-related illness and you will have your answer. Yes - they are urgent.
What happened if we instigated a rule, that those things in the top left quadrant always happened first, and were not pushed out by the busyness of the other less important things?
Try reverse engineering your ‘life to the full’, starting with a list of things which will do the most for your spiritual, emotional and physical wellbeing and finishing by allocating an appropriate amount of work time.
But surely this is self-indulgent? How can I order my priorities in this way? It’ll come at the expense of the church, right? No. Fundamentally, the church works. This is how it was designed. So, if our regular experience and belief is that it only just works as the result of pushing ourselves to the brink of exhaustion, relational strain and threatening our mental and emotional wellbeing – something has gone wrong.
Remember in John 10:10, Jesus said ‘I have come so that you may have life to the full’. In Matthew 11 he confirms that his ‘yoke is easy and his burden is light’. Surely, he wants our Christian ministry to reflect this? After all, we’re working for His Church, so let’s do what He tells us to do…
Andy Bagwell
Executive Director | UCAN