Lie No. 4: God Is Not Really Enough

Let me first just say that this one produced a huge light bulb moment for me. I'm not sure how I have never managed to connect the dots on these truths, but I just suddenly figured out what Christians are getting at when they talk about the kind of world we would have if everyone would put others before themselves. I guess I've always fallen in line with probably the majority of Christians who sort of believe this in theory, but in reality end up living their lives according to the world of Oprah and that whole honoring yourself and your needs first; making sure that you take care of number one; if you don't take care of yourself, no one else will; listen to the inner "you" and devote your life to making sure that you are happy.

So many Christians, including myself, have bought into this lie. We are convinced that we NEED so many other things in order to be happy. We NEED to pursue a certain career or even hobbies because it completes us; if we "settled" for just being a wife and mother, we would somehow be denying who we truly are. (Who exactly is that, by the way? Try and define yourself using only biblical guidelines.) We NEED to be married. We NEED ______.

So, here's where the light bulb came on: Back to what I was talking about in the first paragraph- a world where everyone puts others first and themselves last. Now, in order for this to happen, in order for people to be able to abandon their own needs and focus 100% on the needs of others, their needs would have to have already been met. And guess what? They have been. Each and every one of us who are believers has not a single unmet need. Period. End of Story. Now, all the things we want is another story.

But think about it. If we truly believed that God was enough, we would be free to serve our husbands, and husbands to serve their wives, and parents to serve their children, and children to serve their parents as well as each other, and families to serve their community. If we stopped working so hard to get all of our wants and realized that we have all of our needs, we would be free to serve wholeheartedly, unreservedly, with complete abandon. Now that's a world I could stand to live in.

So, lets's just clarify though, because the lines between need and want, even within the Christian community, have been shot to oblivion. No one really knows anymore. We are so brainwashed into believing that we not only need this ridiculous American picture of how life is supposed to look, but in fact are entitled to it; we deserve it. We are convinced we need a certain amount of living space in our home, because it might be a tragedy if one member of the family invaded the precious personal space of another, which means that we either can't have kids or must buy a bigger house. Heaven forbid children learned not merely to tolerate one another but truly love one another and be one another's best friends, begging to be in each other's presence, instead of kicking and screaming because they have to sit next to each other for 15 minutes out of the day at the dinner table.

If we truly believed that God is enough, IN AND OF HIMSELF, we would all be far better off. If we were so contented in simply being with Him, rather than believing that God is only enough when he is providing us with all the other people and things that we have come to expect, we would finally be completely and utterly fulfilled, never needing or desiring a single thing again.

"For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority." Colossians 2:9-10

Chew on that verse for a while!