One of my go-to verses for as long as I can remember is in John 10:10 when Jesus says, “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.” (ESV) But it’s not easy to say just what the Lord means by it. The JB Phillips translation isn’t helpful. It has the verse as, “I came to bring them life, and far more life than before.” The Message says, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of”—a rendering that makes it even more difficult to understand.

Maybe the best way to grasp what Jesus promises in the verse is by thinking of its opposite. I know what death is. The death that I will one day experience when my physical body wears out. The death of loved ones. The death of hope. The death of confidence. The death of nations. The death of career. Death is when things stop. When the night falls.

But what Jesus promises is the opposite of death. A life that’s unending and rich because he defeated death. A life that’s full of purpose, joy and hope because he never fails to supply those things. A life independent of politics, economics and a culture sinking into excess and fear because his Kingdom is greater.

The abundant life, in other words, isn’t a religious cliche, the lyric in a song or a mirage conjured by magical thinking. It’s what you get when you know the Lord of life himself.