God is Enough

 

This new year begins with joy and with the strong conviction that God is enough. He sent Jesus into my life more than fifty years ago. I’ve been in His bootcamp for much of that time, learning how to live as a soldier for the Lord and most of the time feeling like I’d never be able to measure up. However, He finally got it through my thick skull that I will never measure up — for He does not measure me but Christ who lives in me. 

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. (Psalm 62:5–7)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

My righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The new life He gave me is His life, not a better version of my old life. For that reason, He tells me “to be renewed in the spirit of my mind, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”  (Ephesians 4:23–24)

This is an amazing resting place, part of realizing that God alone is enough — enough to be all that I need to be, and enough for all my needs. He bestows the goodness required to live here as His child and to walk through the gates of heaven: 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1–4)

Again, and I can shout it: GOD IS ENOUGH!

In our church, this has become a motto using slightly different words. We say ONLY GOD when He does what only He can do. For example, every year in December, our church budget faces a shortage. This year it was overwhelmingly huge, yet yesterday morning our lead pastor announced that the giving that week not only met the budget but exceeded it. We said, “Only God” and “God is enough!”

The devotional reading for today says, “No soul can really be at rest until it has given up dependence on everything else and has been forced to depend on the Lord alone.” It seems to me that many of us stubbornly put our expectation in other things and have to learn that nothing but disappointment will be the result, as if we have to touch the stove before we believe it is hot. How sad. The ideal is like Abraham who simply believed God and obeyed Him. 

Yesterday the Lord spoke to me again about keeping my focus on Him so that I’m not plagued by my attention-deficit tendencies. Stop all self-effort and simply trust Him to do what I cannot do. Again He tells me that He is enough.

PRAY: Jesus, what a delight to rest in You. May this new year be marked by a deeper faith in the reality that You are enough! I can safely and confidently rest in You for everything I need and to hear my cries and answer my prayers! You are enough!

Not only the best actions, but in the greatest power . . .

It seems obvious that doing anything in the power of the Holy Spirit will have results that fit the will of God but doing anything by my own power will not.

Tozer says this about Christian living in a more vivid way: “When the Holy Spirit is ignored or rejected, religious people are forced either to do their own creating or to fossilize completely. A few churches accept fossilization as the will of God and settle down to the work of preserving their past — as if it needed preserving. Others seek to appear modern and imitate the current activities of the world with the mistaken idea that they are being creative. And after a fashion they are, but the creatures of the creative skill are sure to be toys and trifles, mere imitations of the world and altogether lacking in the qualities of eternity — holiness and spiritual dignity. The hallmark of the Holy Spirit is not there.”

I agree, but this pinches me when I think of my own efforts. Tozer’s selection of Scripture eases the pain of realizing that God will not punish me for all those times I thought I could ‘do it myself’ like an impertinent little child. By God’s grace my folly is not held against me!

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1–4)

Jesus Christ takes care of the guilt, yet there will be a judgment for Christians. It is called the ‘bema seat’ when God examines what I have done and under whose power . . .

For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11–15)

Tozer offers this sobering thought: “It is hard to imagine a more painful disillusionment than to come to the judgment seat of Christ and find that all our earthly lives we had been striving after the flesh and never permitting the creative Holy Spirit to work in us that which was pleasing in His sight.”

Many times, I’ve said no to requests and offers from others. Very often they cannot understand why I turned them down. I usually pray and if the Holy Spirit is not in it and God is not indicating that I should say yes, it does not matter how good it sounds, I must decline. God may be at work in their project but He is not telling me I should be involved.

The leading of the Spirit is hard to explain, even to other Christians. This does not make me a super-saint. I’ve made the wrong choices many times, and learning the hard way is not the best way to learn. However, God seems to speak more clearly as the years go by, and the uselessness of the flesh becomes more important to avoid. I do not want the things I’ve done be labeled wood, hay or straw, nor do I want to waste the rest of my life as I’ve wasted much of it already.

Tozer adds, “There is a way of release from the tyranny of the flesh. It is by the cross of Jesus.” As he says, the power to live free from self-centered effort comes from the Holy Spirit.

^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, in my sinful humanness I have this self-sufficient tendency and often jump right in when opportunities present themselves. You are patiently teaching me that this is childish and a total waste of effort, redeemed only by the fact that I learn from failures. I know that the Spirit urges me to pray about everything, even those things that appear to be godly choices. I cannot do all that needs to be done in the kingdom of God. If I try things that You have not put on my to-do list, then I miss out on what is needful. Help me to pay attention, listen, and only be engaged by a ‘yes’ from You and by the filling of the Spirit. Only in You do I have the motivation and Your power to move forward.

Two judgments, two endings . . .

Opinions vary widely in the many attempts to decipher the meaning of the book of Revelation. Since volumes have been written on these differences, all I want to say is that this final book in the New Testament seems to be a mixture of literal and symbolic word and images that describes the past, present, and future, and reading it can be exciting and horrifying.

For those of us who believe in Jesus, some parts are plain. One is that Satan will have his day, but will also meet his demise. The other is that there are two ‘resurrections’ and two judgments.

The first resurrection is when those who follow Jesus are brought to life and will live forever. Satan will test these and the rest of humanity, but God’s people will witness his downfall:

“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:4–10)

This is scary stuff, particularly for those who do not know God. Some who believe in Him say this describes in metaphorical language what has already happened. Whatever the exact meaning, clearly Satan loses, and those who believe will (and right now) enjoy eternal life. Christians cannot die twice!

This is not so for the rest of humanity. As Jesus said, all will be raised . . .

“Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28–29)

Revelation describes the resurrection of those who remain. They will stand before God and be judged according to the book of life and what they have done. The rest of the Bible indicates that “what they have done” is about what they have done with Jesus. Without going into a long explanation, those who do not have faith in God and Christ in their lives cannot please God. Everything done is without Him — and without Him, nothing we do is righteous, even what seems ‘good’ in our eyes is as “filthy rags” in His eyes. This judgment by the book of life does not have a happy ending:

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11–15)

Oh my. I’ve heard said that the fear of hell has brought people to Christ for salvation. Satan does not want the truth to be known so he devises the rumor that hell does not exist and that ‘a loving God would not send people to eternal destruction’ — a lie which sidetracks many. It is not God doing the sending, but the choice to refuse God, and to refuse the grace of God by rejecting His loving mercy does it. We are the bad guys, not God.

The solution and the way out of that condemnation is simple: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1–4)

^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, faith in You is a gracious gift. Because of You, the book of Revelation does not put fear in my heart, except fear for those who miss out because they decide either, “I’ll do it myself” or “I don’t need that.” Oh Lord, speak to those who need to hear Your voice, to know Your love for them, and to know that the end of life here is not the end. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." (John 5:25)

God’s love is different than mine

God tells me to love Him and love others, yet love can be difficult to define. A liberal might think it means to tolerate, even encourage others to do their own thing. Ultra-conservatives would call that antinomianism, the idea that grace frees people from moral laws. They might swing to other way to a legalistic view that loving God means obeying every command to the letter of the law.

The answer is not somewhere in the middle. Love is defined in the gospel, not the law. The law shows me my sin by pointing to a perfect righteousness that I cannot perform. Instead, Jesus Christ lived a sinless life which God imputed to me in redemption. That means that in Christ, God made me perfectly righteous. He applied the blood of Christ to my heart and set me completely free from the law.

To do that, He died for me. My death could not satisfy the infinite justice of law without being an eternal death under God’s wrath against sin, but Christ died as my Substitute and satisfied the justice of God. As far as God’s law is concerned, I am dead and it has no claim upon me. I died in Christ and now live under no condemnation.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1–4) “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4)

As today’s devotional reading says, it is as foolish to try to obey the law for myself as it would be for me to try to atone for my own sins.

God still tells me to love Him and love others. However, it is folly to try to love others apart from the Spirit of God and the life of Jesus Christ that is in me. He is the One who loves God perfectly and loves others perfectly. I cannot do it apart from Him.

However, I can see how to love by looking at Jesus Christ. He is my example. One way, and there are many, is like this . . .

. . . Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him . . . . When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you . . . . If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” (John 13:1–17)

Jesus then said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

This love is not just a feeling toward others, nor is it merely the action of doing good to them. It is an issue from the heart of Jesus Christ, a love that is beyond how I feel or what I can do. It willingly serves the needs of even enemies (Judas was there), not to impress or to manipulate, but because love lives in me and if I am to be like Jesus, I must release it in whatever expression God puts on my heart.

Jesus, these days some think love is a do-good, feel-good emotion, but Your love goes far beyond that. It led You to a bloody and horrifying death because You put the needs of others above Your very life. Because of You, I understand much more about love and the power of love. Loving others is more than courtesy, more than hugs or generosity or any sentiment; love is yielding my entire being to You so that You can express Your love for humanity through me. Love is being Your servant who will say, “Not my will but thine be done” and then follow through with action.