John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
The thief is the devil, and you have heard what he does. He steals by deceiving, he kills by seducing, he destroys by dragging into eternal death. The Lord came to give life, and not merely life, but that which is life indeed. He does not say "life" only, but "abundance," implying that in His gift there is a fullness, a richness, a superabundance. He came not to patch up an old existence but to communicate a new one -- His own life, inexhaustible and eternal, that the soul might not merely exist but overflow.
--Augustine of Hippo, *Tractates on the Gospel of John*
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
--C.S. Lewis, *The Weight of Glory*
Basil the Great, *The Long Rules* (Regulae Fusius Tractatae), circa 370 AD. Written as the practical framework for communal life in Christ -- the shape of the abundant life.
"Those who have chosen to follow the Lord ought to keep their eye single and their mind intent on this one thing: how they may please God in all things and bring forth fruit in every good work. They must not be diverted by any worldly concern, nor may they consider anything more important than the care of their own soul. But if, at any time, they turn aside to ease and pleasure, they will soon find themselves entangled in the cares of this life and unable to bear fruit."
The secret of holiness is this: to abide in Christ and let Him live out His life in us. Not our doing, but our yielding. Not our holding, but our being held. The discipline is in the stillness -- the letting go of our own strength so His can take over.
--Andrew Murray, *Absolute Surrender*
What am I settling for that is far less than the life Christ actually came to give me?
Consider it the greatest of crimes to prefer survival to honor, and, for the sake of life, to lose the reasons for living.
--Cato, 1st century BC
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