Enough In 2019
One of the biggest questions we subtly ask ourselves on a daily basis is, "Am I enough?"
The reason this question comes in such subtle ways is we don't realize we are doing it. We don't realize that we are under a barrage of constant self-evaluation. Beyond self-evaluation, which for some (like me) can be incessant, we come under constant evaluation that the world is throwing at us, especially in an individualistic, humanistic society like America.
Every day we are evaluated (by ourselves and the world) on this question:
"Am I __________ enough?"
Fill-in-the-blank:
Smart
Educated
Woke
Strong
Fit
Skinny
Intelligent
Doing
Earning
Living
Free
In Control
Respected
Appreciated
Cool
Popular
Loved
Cared About
Advertising tells us that unless you are a man who doesn't grow a strong beard, know the intricacies of fine whiskey, have six-pack abs, perfect hair, control your own destiny, drive a nice truck, do well with the ladies, and carry on an interesting conversation you aren't man enough.
Advertising tells us that unless you are a woman who wears a size 0, pushes through the glass ceiling at work and in the public sphere, takes perfect care of her family, pleases her husband, handles every errand and chore, and still has time to read 10 books a month with a glass of wine, you aren't woman enough.
Instagram celebrities perpetually posting vignettes of their picturesque lives leave us wallowing in the gutters of FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) and the despair of an incomplete self-actualization. We are constantly reminded we aren't enough.
These factors combine with our own self-evaluation to have us constantly asking ourselves if we are enough. Perhaps years of parents consistently pointing out negative parts of us have resonated down into the marrow of our bones. Or maybe we have become good at beating ourselves up all on our own. "If I don't make enough money, am I truly okay?" "If I don't get the review I deserve, did I have a good year?" "If I'm not taking a road-trip or hanging out on a rooftop bar, am I cool enough?"
Oftentimes, our social media accounts are often funhouse mirror images of our real lives, never quite giving the real picture. We portray perfection, ease, happiness, and success while glossing over our shortcomings or the pain, trial, and struggle of life - because we want people to see and perceive that our lives are enough.
We can beat ourselves up with constant self-evaluation. Self-evaluation is where shame likes to make its bed. How many millions of Americans are going to stand naked in front of a mirror at the beginning of January and feel embarrassed and ashamed by how they look?
Is there freedom from the constant need to measure up?
Is there peace that we can find in this journey?
Can we be liberated from the voice in our head that tells us daily all the ways that we don't fit the bill, that we aren't deserving, that we aren't okay?
One of the hard truths of the Bible is that without God, there can be no real and lasting peace.
The Bible repeatedly teaches that we will not have peace with God, with each other, and with ourselves apart from God.
We need to be reconciled to God BEFORE we can be at peace with ourselves, with others, and with God.
We see this peace with God on a personal level:
"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." (1 Timothy 1:15)
The apostle Paul, a former persecutor and zealously religious Jew, was confronted fully with his sinfulness by the words of Jesus Christ. This is one of the beautiful things about the Bible, God's Word. God's Word comes to us in the Bible as the ultimate authority, because it is God's very word and He is the ultimate authority as Creator and Sustainer of all things. Therefore, the Bible can tell us the truth about ourselves from a perspective that is above our own.
In today's world, where we seek more and more to self-define, and to be our own authority on everything (think WebMD), God's Word provides us a refreshingly truthful perspective on who we really are.
There is true freedom, true peace, in being able to know and own who you really are. There is true freedom in being able, by God's grace, to see yourself as a sinner. There is freedom in being able to be incomplete, imperfect, insufficient, and weak. The reason we can be free in that place is we can finally be honest with ourselves. We don't have to plaster on the paper maché of self-righteousness. We can admit our full need for Jesus, and we can accept his full sufficiency in our place. This removes the bars of our self-imposed jail cell of trying to measure up on our own. Jesus is enough, and he says we are in him. Therefore, we are freed to admit that we fail, that we fall short, and that we need help. This is a humbling process, but Jesus came into the world to save sinners, to lead us into this place of peace.
We see this peace with God on a relationship with God level:
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:1)
This peace that God makes available comes through the bloodshed of Jesus Christ on the cross. Jesus becomes the penalty-taker for the sin we have piled up, and in his sacrificial death in our place, he takes our sin and the wrath we deserve away. The holy and immeasurably perfect God reconciles us to himself through the blood of his Son, and when we believe that good news, God declares us righteous. We are justified by faith and brought into a place of peaceful relationship with God, forever. This peace allows us to start having peace with ourselves.
Lastly, we see we need God for peace on a global level:
"Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:11–19)We are in the midst of some incredibly powerful movements for justice. All across America, and the world, people are crying out for relief, for justice, for equality, for equity, and for peace. We are looking desperately for solutions to the world's problems and to the things that create oppression and division between us. People are fed up with injustice and looking around for the hope and peace that only God can bring.
Without being reconciled to God, we cannot be reconciled to one another.
The text above highlights that point. Christ Jesus becomes our peace, making peace by the blood of his cross. Jesus takes the Jews and Gentiles, all peoples who believe in him, and unites them in himself.
Jesus tears down the wall of hostility that we have with God, by taking our sins and wrath upon himself on the cross, and making peace with God for us.
Jesus tears down the wall of hostility that we have with one another, by uniting us to himself in his resurrection life, creating a brand new humanity of spiritual people by the Holy Spirit, who become God's own household. This is why Paul writes in Galatians 3:28 (NIV), "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
God is in the business of taking people who are hostile and far away from each other and uniting them to Himself and one another in Christ Jesus. This is why we call Jesus' body the church. The church is this diverse and complex body of people who agree on one thing, that Jesus Christ is the resurrected LORD and Savior, and who share in common the Holy Spirit and are children of God.
As these new creation people, we know just how sinful and undeserving of grace we are, and we know just how blessed we are to have received every spiritual blessing from God. Therefore, we are willing and boldly desirous to go into hard places and engage with messy people, in order to see them similarly experience the incredible grace and goodness of our God. We see how we were never enough, and we can then engage with people and tell them about the Savior who alone is enough.
As insufficient sinners who have found our all-sufficient savior, we proclaim to you, "Jesus is enough. Jesus is sufficient for you, and for me. I have no boast except his sufficiency, and I want to see him be sufficient for you as well. I want to see you believe, and receive the grace of God that have received and I am currently receiving, and there you will find satisfaction for your souls. You will never be enough, you will never measure up, you will never fill the void in your soul that cries out longingly for redemption and love until you know the overwhelming, immeasurable, uncompromising love of God."
As more and more people come to trust and stake their whole life on Jesus, they follow him with continued obedience, spurred on entirely by faith and by the power of the Holy Spirit. As new creation people, made alive by God by grace through faith, we enter into unity with Christ and his resurrection life. We continue on in the journey of progressive sanctification, ever growing into Christ. (SIDE NOTE: If you've ever wondered why Christians are still sinful, it's because we are being made new and made perfect, and it is a process! However, we shouldn't ever try to portray our own sufficiency or perfection, Jesus is our all-sufficient substitute and he is the one who makes us perfect, so we should point to him!)
As new creation people, we join with God's mission of bringing justice, love, mercy and righteousness into the world through the person of Jesus Christ, the one He sent into the world to save sinners. This is what it means to be in the kingdom of God. We are people who by faith have submitted ourselves to God, with Jesus as the ruler and king of our lives. Therefore, we seek to advance Jesus' rule and reign by proclaiming and living the gospel and serving the orphan and widow with the compassion that we too have received. God makes us humble first in order that we might become these new people. We have to admit that we aren't enough, and put our faith and trust in Jesus, throwing ourselves at his feet, because Jesus is enough for us.
Jesus rejoices in God's plan to take the meek and transform them into those who inherit with Jesus all things:
25 At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The call to come to Jesus is the call to lay down your heavy yoke, the yoke of trying to be enough. It takes the revelation of God, and it takes us being willing to become like little children, accepting what is offered to us instead of trying to continue on in our own way.
In this passage, Jesus is remarking on the yoke of the impossible burden of religiosity and law-keeping to earn a right relationship with God. We can only receive a right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, and in that reconciled relationship with God we find peace for our souls, we find rest.
Similarly, the yoke of being enough will always be on our backs, inescapable, unless we take the yoke of Jesus upon ourselves. We will never measure up. We need Jesus to be all for us, every day. Jesus is the only one who can truthfully proclaim, "Come to me, and I will give you rest." Will you come to him, by faith? The cool thing is we can do this today and everyday, and everyday we will find in Jesus everything we need for peace. The deepest needs of our hearts, the sharpest pangs of longing in our souls will only find satisfaction in finding Christ.
Jesus is enough in 2019.
Has he become enough for you?
Is he enough for you today?
Will he be enough for you everyday?
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