Thrive together

Thrive together

You are always the same; you will live forever. The children of your people will live in security. Their children’s children will thrive in your presence. – Psalms 102:27-28

Isaiah 44:1-8

 2 The LORD who made you and helps you says: Do not be afraid, O Jacob, my servant, O dear Israel, my chosen one.

 3 For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your children.

 4 They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank.

 6 This is what the LORD says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: I am the First and the Last; there is no other God.

 7 Who is like me? Let him step forward and prove to you his power. Let him do as I have done since ancient times when I established a people and explained its future.

 8 Do not tremble; do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago? You are my witnesses – is there any other God? No! There is no other Rock – not one!

Kaiser Permanente, commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium founded in Oakland, California, in 1945.

Kaiser Permanente is one of the most extensive nonprofit healthcare plans in the United States, with over 12 million members. It operates 39 hospitals and more than 700 medical offices, with over 300,000 personnel, including more than 87,000 physicians and nurses.

Kaiser teams are empowered to maximize the total health of their members, employees, and communities. Kaiser is dedicated to working for a healthier today and tomorrow. Kaiser developed a philosophy of service summed up in their tagline: Thrive Together.

Kaiser sets forth its purpose encapsulated in a two-word credo: Thrive Together. Kaiser is committed to helping its clients “thrive in mind, body, and spirit.”

Microsoft borrowed the concept of Thrive Together and modified it “To be energized and empowered to do meaningful work.”

Father has promised that every child of the King can thrive in mind, body, and spirit and be energized and empowered to do His will.

REFLECT & PRAY

“It is only when we live with Christ that life becomes really worth living and we begin to live in the real sense of the word” (Barclay).

Father thank You that Jesus Christ came into the world not only to save us from the eternal consequences of our sinful lives but also to receive eternal life at the moment of our salvation. Thank You that You intend each of us to have a superabundant life in Christ.

INSIGHT

The prophets predicted that the children of Israel would Thrive Together. Psalms 102 triumphantly proclaims that future generations will dwell in the presence of the Father.

Psalms 102:28 Their children’s children will thrive in your presence.

The Hebrew word translated as thrive is kun. Kun connotes the idea of establishing or setting up something or someone that will be durable and long-lasting. It has the nuances of establishing, making firm, or ready. Kun is one of the verbs used to describe the Father’s “creative act of firmly establishing the cosmos which both sustains and threatens human existence. Because the world is “established” and “it cannot be moved” (Psalms 93:1; 96:10; cf. 65:6) (NIDOTTE).

In prophetic oracles, the Father promises, e.g., through Nathan, that he will give permanence to his covenant with David, to his throne and his kingdom (2 Samuel 7:12, 16; cf. Psalms 89:4). Jeremiah announces that the exilic “community” of God’s people will be established (Jeremiah 30:20). The prophets envision a future time when the temple will be the dominant location on planet Earth (NIDOTTE).

Isaiah 2:2 In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s house will be the highest of all – the most important place on earth. It will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.

In our difficult times, many children of the King are just trying to survive and not thrive. How tragic.

However, what the Father predicted would be true of corporate Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son, promised that the same would be true of individual children of the King.

John 10:10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

Lord Jesus Christ boldly claims that He came that all children of the King might have life and have it more abundantly. At the moment we accept the Lord Jesus Christ, we are given life. Here the Greek sheds additional light on the significance of the type of life we receive.

“Jesus’ promise of abundant life, which begins already in the here and now, brings to mind OT prophecies about abundant blessing (e.g., Ezekiel 34:12-15, 25-31). Jesus calls his followers not to a dour, lifeless, miserable existence that squashes human potential, but to a rich, full, joyful life, one overflowing with meaningful activities under the personal favor and blessing of God and in continual fellowship with his people” (ESV notes).

Two words in Greek are translated as life. Bios is physical life. The word biology is derived from this Greek term. Zoeis spiritual or eternal life. Zoe life is the type of life God possesses. It is the remarkable spiritual, eternal life of the incorporeal God. Practically speaking, Zoe is the byproduct of knowing the living God.

But there’s more.

In the original Greek, the phrase translated more abundantly “means to have a superabundance of a thing. . .” (Barclay).  The Greek word translated as more abundantly is perisson. Perissonhas the sense of abundance, a great quantity, over and above, or more than enough.

The Lord Jesus Christ gives an abundance of life, and all that sustains life (ATR). 

“When we walk with Jesus, there comes a new vitality, a superabundance of life” (Barclay). After we become children of the King by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, “there are various degrees of enjoyment of this life. The more we turn ourselves over to the Holy Spirit, the more we enjoy the life which has been given to us. We not only have life then, but we have it more abundantly” (BBC). 

When we choose to live for the Lord Jesus Christ who indwells us, we thrive.

Are you striving or thriving?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 6-20-2

© Dr. H 2022