In a world where #IamEnough is the mantra of the day, I am inexplicably happy and relieved to affirm that #IamNotEnough because, thanks be to God, Jesus Christ IS.
I can't imagine the heavy weight and burden; the amount of daily self-cajoling it takes to justify to self and others, that who I am and all that I possess and am capable of, with my finite knowledge and capabilities, is enough for me and all those around me.
I am truly and deeply grieved for all who are deceived by this devilish lie. The same lie from the Garden: "God is not enough. You are just as good or better than God. That’s why He’s keeping things from you. You can and should be your own god to insure you receive all that you deserve." If Adam and Eve had just taken a moment to prudently consider what God named the only thing (a singular tree) in all of the Garden of Eden, that they were forbidden from touching, taking, and eating was called; they perhaps, would have not been so easily deceived. And therefore, would not have sinned.
God named the one and only forbidden thing in the Garden: The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:15-17).
Adam and Eve were already well-acquainted with the knowledge of good. For they knew God. And God alone is good (Mk 10:18). The only thing they were completely unfamiliar with and unaware of, was, the knowledge of evil.
For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!~Psalm 84:10-12, ESV
They were created by a good God, in a good garden, with every good thing they needed. They neither knew evil nor experienced evil. Yet, they were easily made to be discontented with all the good God had given them when Satan suggested that they didn’t know all that God knew and didn’t have all that God had. In essence, Satan enticed Adam and Eve with the fact that God was keeping something from them. And He was. He was keeping evil from them. But rather than trust and be grateful for the perfect goodness of their God, Father, and Creator, they desired to be more and have more than complete and absolute good. That sounds absolutely absurd doesn’t it? And yet, to a discontented heart, it makes sense to have it all and know all…whether good or evil.
And herein lies the greatest travesty in all of history: Though we know what Satan used to deceive Adam and Eve and successfully entice them to sin, we are just as easily deceived and enticed by the same old lie— "You are enough. You don’t need God. You don’t need anyone. You are sufficient in yourself. You do not need to aspire to be better than you are. You are as good as it gets, just the way you are. Because you are enough, you never need to do or say anything that makes you feel dissatisfied with yourself."
But the truth is: Only God is enough because He is the only being that is truly sufficient in Himself. He alone is eternal, holy, sovereign, and good.
And this awesome Creator of ours is the God and Father of peace—not discontent. God is the God and Father of order—not chaos. Satan, on the other hand, is the god and father of discontent and chaos. Satan is the god and father of confusion, lies, and the deception of self-sufficiency.
So how do we combat the devil’s #IamEnough lie and movement? We preach the truth of God’s Word to our spirits rather than listen to the pride of our flesh.
If God gave us the best He had—His one and only Son, to save us from what we deserve—every misery in this life and eternal damnation in the next; for being His vile and arrogant enemies who revel in self and sin; then what good, that's less than Jesus (because there is no good equal to or above Him) would the LORD of hosts deny us? What lesser good than the life of Christ would God, the Father of all creation withhold from those love and fear Him?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?…[for] His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire…Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God…[who] is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency (or all contentment) in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.~Rom 8:32; 2 Pt 1:3-4; 2 Cor 3:4-5, 9:8
#YouAreNotEnough for you, for me, or for anyone else.
#OnlyJesusIsEnough because all things seen and unseen have been made by Christ, through Christ, for Christ, and are held together in Christ (cf. Jn 1:1-3, Col 1:15-20, Heb 1:2-3). No one else, save Christ, can claim any of these things to be true about themselves.
