A friend recently posted on her blog that the Holy Spirit had been nagging her to write a particular statement. Resistant to confess this in writing, she explained how much of her life can be a contradiction to this statement. The emotional roller-coaster, the desperation for the Lord to work in their adoption process, the sense of ownership or control we long to have all kept her from confessing this statement with the conviction she so longed to have. Nonetheless, she was obedient and wrote: Jesus is enough. That simple statement has a power can affect all of our lives and in every aspect of our life.
As I found myself responding mentally and emotionally to her own wrestling with the confession of this statement, and it was no surprise that the Lord once again brought it up this morning in our church’s sermon: Jesus is enough. He is enough for today. He is enough for tomorrow. He is enough for all eternity. The widow who gave her meager two copper coins (Mark 12) knew that Jesus was enough. Mary Magdalene who anointed Jesus with a lifetime’s wages-worth of perfume (Mark 14) knew that Jesus was enough. These women demonstrate that trusting Jesus is beautiful; it’s costly; it’s eternally rewarding.
I often find myself tempted to live as “Jesus + ____”: Jesus plus a family that has it all together; Jesus plus a peaceful and comfortable home; Jesus plus an adoption process that is moving along like I want it to–all of this in order for me to have the peace that in truth depends on nothing but Christ himself. I think of the beautiful hymn “I surrender all” and wonder how different my life would look if I lived the truth of those words not just in some intellectual acknowledgement or confession of belief, but truly deeply lived that out: let it shape my emotions, let it shape my beliefs that God will work for the good regardless of how He works…
In a time when we are eager (understatement of the year) to bring our boys home from Congo and to see positive forward movement with that, I find that the Holy Spirit continues to confront me with the challenge: Will Jesus alone be enough for you? And when we answer yes, as the faithful saints that Scripture shows us, we find Jesus is not simply enough, but extravagantly more than we could ever imagine!
