Speaker: Bonnie Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living | [He will] equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  Hebrews 13:21 NIV

Enough.  That’s the elusive measurement so many of us chase after, hour after hour, day in and day out, year after year.  Can you relate to the confession of social activist, Lynne Twist?

“For me,” she says, “and for many of us, our first waking thought of the day is “I didn’t get enough sleep.” The next one is “I don’t have enough time.” Whether true or not, that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining, or worrying about what we don’t have enough of.…Before we even sit up in bed, before our feet touch the floor, we’re already inadequate, already behind, already losing, already lacking something. And by the time we go to bed at night, our minds are racing with a litany of what we didn’t get, or didn’t get done, that day. We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to that reverie of lack.” [1]

Twist calls this an “internal condition of scarcity.” A scarcity mindset, she concludes, “lives at the very heart of our jealousies, our greed, our prejudice.”  Twist isn’t a Christian, but she’s identified a valid human condition, and points out what the results are doing life in our own strength, our own sufficiency.  Yes, it can be so easy, even for Christians, to fall into this way of thinking that assesses the worth of our lives without God, without His abundance and the adequacy that He promises to those who follow him.  In this world, it’s easy to forget who God is, what He promises and why we’re here.

Life lived with an inadequate view of God is one of constant striving. “At times our problem is we have a very low view of our God,” says Pastor Mel Caparros in his book, Enough is Enough.  “We fail to see Him for who He really is—a great, powerful, majestic, glorious and mighty God for whom nothing is difficult!” This, is the God that the Bible says, “is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV).  “Young lions go lacking and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing, Psalms 34 declares (Ps. 34:10).  Whether it’s resources, skills or wisdom, the Bible says that God, “will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right” (Ps. 84:11).

When we struggle with a scarcity mentality, we’re also forgetting that the purpose of the life of a follower of Jesus isn’t solely accomplishment, in the here and now, although we can bring Him glory in whatever the work or activities of our lives are.  In the words of the song wright, Jon Foreman, we were meant to live for so much more.  “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God,” (I Cor. 10:31) the Apostle Paul summarized for us in the New Testament book of Corinthians.  The Westminster Catechism, a traditional summary of Christian beliefs, asks the question, ‘What is the chief end (or purpose) of man?” and it answers, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  If you remembered Him and His Word as you wakened this morning, went about your day with and for Him, and thanked Him as you finally rested on your bed…that is enough.  “He will equip you with everything good for doing his will,” promises Hebrews 12:21.

When the thought of “not enough” creeps into your mind, remember, if you are a follower of Jesus, He promises that you are enough, because He is enough.

Resource Reading: Hebrews 13:5-21

[1] “Daring Greatly Quotes by Brené Brown(Page 9 of 19).” Goodreads. Goodreads, April 14, 2020. https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/19175758-daring-greatly-how-the-courage-to-be-vulnerable-transforms-the-way-we-l?page=9.