What does this phrase “Jesus is enough” actually look like in practical everyday life? Sure, it means we have nothing except Jesus, and all we have is his sustaining grace. But what might that actually look like for us?
When Jesus is enough, we might not actually be poor in the things of this world. We might be relatively wealthy and have cars and houses and college tuition and loving family members and a full refrigerator and a fulfilling job and an abundance of hobbies and clothes and bank accounts and an embarrassment of first-world blessings. And yet we know that if it all disappeared in the next five minutes, Jesus would still be enough.
When Jesus is enough, we might be like that small boy [with five barley loaves and two fish]. We have our health and strength and a bit of provision and dreams of growing up and doing cool things and being a great agent in God’s kingdom plans and a loving spouse and a caring parent. And we’ve just been hanging out all day, listening to Jesus, which has been great. And maybe there’s a need placed right in front of us. We know we can’t ever fill the entire need, because that would take more than all of our resources, maybe half a year’s wages, and even then the need wouldn’t be filled. But we can still give away our lunch. We can give what we have. We can place our loaves and fishes into the hands of Jesus and trust that he will do with our offering whatever he wants to. That’s when Jesus is enough.
When Jesus is enough, we might look like the widow of Zarephath. The brook has run dry. The crops have failed. The oil and flour are gone. We have nothing left, and our hope is gone. All we can do now is eat a last meal and then die. If that’s your story, you can rest assured Jesus is extending a huge invitation to you: give him your all. If Jesus is your all, and if Jesus is all you have left, then that’s exactly what it means that Jesus is enough.
I love how the Psalmist articulates it. He has grief in his heart and he’s experienced trouble after trouble, yet even at the bottom of life, he says to God:
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25-26)
That’s the cry of someone who knows that Jesus is enough.
When Jesus is enough, we focus on what we have, not what we don’t have, and not on what we still might lose. When Jesus is enough, we bless God and don’t curse him. When Jesus is enough, we gaze intently on God and run to him, not away from him. When Jesus is enough, we believe God and don’t doubt him, even though we don’t understand our circumstances. When Jesus is enough, we asked him to take the half of us that’s left and make that everything he wants us to be. When Jesus enough, we realize our hearts were made for Jesus, and Jesus isn’t just a theological idea – he’s a person and not just any person.
He is the person our hearts and souls were made for.
That’s when Jesus is enough.
Watch Louie Giglio this Monday and Thursday on LIFE TODAY. Taken from The Comeback by Louie Giglio. Copyright ©2015 by Louie Giglio. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com.
