August 4, 2003 Monday
Perfect Sufficiency

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God" ( 2 Corinthians 3:5)

"O God, I need more of you" - how often do you discover those words in your heart? Did you know that those words distort the very truth of God's nature and only reveal how much we're actually holding back from Him in our own life? Every time we utter those words we are declaring that God hasn't done enough to purchase us from eternal hell and to perfectly restore our fellowship with Him - as if He's willingly holding back the opportunities for us to see and know Him more. Acts 17:28 says, "In him we live, and move, and have our being". Every aspect of our very existence points to God Almighty Himself, who is already nearer to us than what we would most often ever imagine. These thoughts in our heart manifest our lack of contentment in Christ and the sinful, spiritual pride we live in as we seek to satisfy our souls through earthly efforts. Paul said from his bonds in prison, "I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content...I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." (Philippians 4:11,13) Remember, "God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having ALL sufficiency in ALL things, may abound to every good work". (2 Corinthians 9:8) He is able to suffice for everything, but do we allow Him? Our souls long to glorify God, but we find ourselves unable to perform because we are still content in our sinful, faithless flesh. We've spent far too much time in our lives attempting to do God's work with our own strength, forgetting that "it is God which worketh in you both to will and do of His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13) Christ alone is the "author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2), but we are His actors, therefore, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12) Don't believe for a moment that God does some of it and we do the rest; salvation is all of His grace and none of our works, but afterwards we become "joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17) and we have a new, active role in this relationship. God gives us every opportunity to experience His perfect sufficiency.....He has given us all of Himself, but have we given Him all of us? We don't need more of Him in our lives, He has already freely given us His all...we need to give Him more of us, and then we will see the sufficiency.