Enough

livingjoyfullysubmitted.com

 

 

I’m a list maker. Grocery list, to do list, spring gardening list, needs list…I tend to motivate myself by checking off completed items on the lists.

Today, I sit on my couch, coffee in hand, endeavoring to begin a list of things I need as spring approaches. Things I need for my house. Things I need for my yard, my garden, my pets...I am trying to make a new budget, but the list could go on and on. Then a thought occurs to me, and I am convicted. When did all the abundance I have become “not enough”?

When did Jesus become “not enough”?

 

So instead, I begin to create a list of things I don’t need. I don’t need new carpet; the area rug looks nice and is covering the majority of the room just fine. I don’t need new paint for the spare bedroom wall; it’s not pretty but it’s not hurting anything, either – I only store things in there anyway. I don’t need new curtains; the ones I have are dated, but they’re in good shape and perform the job they’re meant for.

You get the idea. If I truly look at my life humbly, I have more than I ever needed. No, I am not rich according to earthly standards (I just recently realized our income is considered “poverty level”!) But, because of Jesus’ abundant provision, we live in abundance!

I’m not even talking miracles here, though I have seen more than my share of “everyday” miracles – the gifts of Jesus received from willing human hands. No, I’m talking the things we tend to take for granted in everyday life. Do we realize that we have so much that so many others are in desperate need of? I admit, most days I have to answer “no.” But today, thanks to the Lord’s conviction on my heart, I humbly realize how rich I am.

I have a home. No, it’s not fancy, chic, or expensive. It is solid, safe, warm, and has history and character. I have a yard, a garden, and even a back deck I have long wanted. My garden provides me food and saves me money. While some are living without shelter of any kind, I have a home that would seem like a palace to them.

I have food. The Lord graciously gave me life in a country and in circumstances where food has not been an issue. Even during times of struggle, I have never been hungry. In a culture where obesity is a major health problem, we often fail to recognize as abundance the easy availability of such a basic part of our lives.

I have an actual bed to sleep on, and furniture to sit on. Sure, the furniture is mismatched, but it’s also comfortable and feels like home. I am not sitting, eating, or sleeping on the cold ground, on cement sidewalks, or in dirt, as so many around the world are.

I have running water, a working shower, and indoor plumbing. There are people in this world without even these basics, while in addition to these I also have a stove, refrigerator, microwave oven, coffee maker…luxuries to so many!

I have family and friends, without whom all of the “enough” would be meaningless.

Most importantly, I have Jesus, who gives me life and sustains it. Who gave up His glory, majesty, and the unimaginable abundance of heaven to spend a lifetime here on Earth. Who, on Earth, gave up any earthly comfort and traded His life for an excruciating, unimaginably horrible death, having nothing and totally alone. For me.

For you.

If we have nothing else, this alone – Jesus alone – IS enough.

Friends…we are abundantly rich!

So, how do we learn to live in such abundance? Let’s look at what Jesus says.

In John 10, Jesus tells us “The thief (Satan) comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly.”  (Italics mine).

The key is to recognize the abundance we have been given as abundance. Not only that, but also to refuse to let Satan steal our abundance. But how do we do that?

How Satan Steals our Abundance

To refuse to let Satan, steal, kill, and destroy our abundance, we must recognize the ways in which he does so.

Satan does not want us to be satisfied, much less feeling blessed, with what we have. He will always bring our attention to what we don’t have in order to distract us from the abundance we do have. His goal is to make us feel deprived, to keep us wanting more. If we are always thinking about the things we don’t have, it’s difficult to recognize and feel satisfied in the abundance we do have. Satan knows that a Christian who is satisfied is focused on the one thing he least wants us to be. Jesus.

So, Satan will distract us with greed, envy, and covetousness. We have things, but we want nicer things, or more, or different, or newer…you get the idea. Most of us can think of something this applies to in our lives, my desire for better looking curtains, or more cushion in my budget for example.

 

Every year people crowd stores on Black Friday pushing for a bigger t.v., the next model of smart phone, the latest video games or electronics…The list could go on and on. I imagine Satan rubbing his hands in glee as he watches the barrage of commercial advertisements constantly blaring at us about all the things we “need” that will inevitably make our lives “better”. If we listen long enough, it’s very easy to become unsatisfied with the things we do have.

The truth is, even without any of the things we have, when we have Jesus, we have enough!

You might be reading this post and thinking, “that’s easy for you to say, you have these things.”

But let me briefly tell you a story. Last year at this time, I was sitting in a hospital room with my husband who had just undergone surgery for cancer, had consequently become severely dehydrated, and nearly died. Due to illness, I had been unable to work for several months before this, and was now unable to because of my husband’s illness. We had just found out that, because of the cancer and our uncertainty of when his disability would start, our landlord was petitioning the court for our immediate removal from our home. We were broke, and for all intents and purposes, homeless, depending on family to house us until we would have a place of our own. We were now unable to pay our current bills. We lost our car. Of course there is much more to our story…but the point is that it was here, in this period of having nothing, that I learned by trusting Him, by letting Him be my “enough,” I was for the first time truly satisfied with whatever life did or did not supply me. And when I did come to that point of total submission and said (and meant) “Jesus, You are all I really need,” in the middle of having nothing, Jesus began to provide.

In Matthew 6, Jesus commands us “Do not worry about these things…but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness,” and immediately also PROMISES us, “and all these things will be added to you as well.”

Let me tell you, both from what the Bible tells us and from experience and reliance on this promise, that seeking His kingdom and righteous begins with a submitted heart. One that says, “Here I am, I’m all yours. If this is where you want me right now, I trust you enough to get me through, give me all I need, and to use this for my good as well as the good of others.”

And the rest of my story? Jesus didn’t only provide what I was relying on Him for…he provided abundantly! I now have a home with no mortgage. A van was gifted to us by a member of our church. Our utility bills were generously covered by a fund in University Hospital earmarked for help in just such situations as ours. My husband got his disability…and it covered all of his medical bills (which were over $800,000 – talk about a gift from God!), chemo, and now continues to cover his medications. He cannot work and is still dealing with some complications of the surgery that removed his cancer, but he has monthly income that helps pay our bills. I am working again and, with God’s direction, will continue to pursue my dream of reaching people, and maybe even earning an income, with my writing.

Yes, I may be conventionally “poor” by our culture’s standards, but in Jesus, I have abundantly “enough”!

 

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the

riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”

Phillipians 4:19