Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins. Ephesians 5:2 (NLT).

Despite popular opinion, God isn’t stingy. He doesn’t want to deprive anyone of life. He just wants to give you what’s best. The psalmist says, “No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who do what is right” Psalm 84:11 (NLT). You noticed that, didn’t you? The abundant life goes hand in hand with the obedient life. You’ve got to live right to have fullness of life.

Now how do you do that? How do you live right?

First, you’ve got to get rid of the stuff that’s getting in the way. You’ve got to throw off everything that hinders you from being truly alive. And what hinders you from being truly alive? Hebrews 12:1 says, “Let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress” (NLT).

Sin hinders you from being truly alive. But the trouble is you can’t get rid of sin. Once you’ve sinned you own it. So how do you get rid of it? By getting help.

This brings us to the second thing you’ve got to do. You’ve got to get Jesus. Only Jesus can remove your sin. 1 John 5:12 says, “Whoever has God’s Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life” (NLT). Jesus is the only One who can give you life. He’s the only One who can take your sin and get rid of it. Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (NIV). Ask Jesus to cleanse you from sin and you’ll know life.

The third thing you’ve got to do is live only all for Jesus.  How do you live all out for Jesus? By obeying Him. By living according to the precepts of His Word. Ephesians 5:2 says, “Live a life filled with love for others, following the example of Christ, who loved you and gave himself as a sacrifice to take away your sins” (NLT).

Does this make sense? This is the Gospel. There’s more to life, much more to life than you can ever make of it by yourself. “Put your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.” Place your trust in Jesus and live by His dictates. For when you do, when you embrace Jesus and live for Him, you get a life worth living for and a life worth dying for.