There are a lot of “sufficient” things in the life of a Christian. Think about that for a minute. Because God is all we really need, we have sufficiency in Christ. Yet sometimes we forget that because we focus on the temporal situation of living in a fallen world but the Bible warns us to look to eternity in Colossians 3:2:
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
It is a command that God gives us to deliberately set our minds on eternity rather than the fleeting passions and pursuits of this life. When we apply this practically to our every day life, then we find sufficiency in Christ.
God does whatever He pleases and can provide for His children however He deems best. We, His children, often think we know better than God and that is our first and crucial mistake similar to the sheep who wanders off from the group looking for different and better grass yet is soon ambushed by a wolf. Our pride and sinful nature lead us astray from the living God at times who knows what is best for us.
For a discouraged believer, the grace of God is sufficient as 2 Corinthians 12:9 encourages the downtrodden:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
One more way God is sufficient is through His Word of truth. The Bible is sufficient to help in all types of heart issues that one may have. What issue of the heart does God’s Word not address? We are not talking about psychobabble labels for so-called diseases that are behavioral in nature but the heart issues of lack of trust, disbelief, guilt, anger, sadness, and the like. When we counsel, we direct the counselee straight to what God says about the issue because we want the counselee to hear from Him. We don’t tell the counselee our personal opinions on the topic — whatever it may be. Instead, we tell the counselee what God’s divine opinion is, and that’s actually fact, not opinion. It’s the only “opinion” that matters since He is the Creator of the universe!
So the next time you think about what you “need,” focus upon the reality of eternity and all it has to offer, God’s sufficient grace and mercy, and read God’s sufficient Word because it will point you to reality and to God’s amazing grace.
-Mark (awestruck by the sufficiency of Christ)