...In Christ

Life can be so overwhelming. It's busy and stressful and demanding and on the days when everything goes wrong, we can wonder how we are supposed to manage it all.

But this is such a well known feeling, such a common concern, that we really don’t have to look far to find encouragement. The message of “you are enough” is everywhere: over pretty pictures on Instagram, on coffee mugs, in cool quotes on Pinterest. It's spoken over us like a blessing, we are assured that we can do it. We can do all things. We are enough.

Very much like my post on self-care, I do appreciate the motive behind these words. The words are meant to affirm us, calm our fears and reduce the crippling anxiety of life. They're supposed to put cement in our bones so we can stand up, stop complaining and fight the good fight. But in and of themselves, those words will never be enough—because it's not true.

It's like the whole, “God helps those who help themselves,”— it is nowhere to be found in the Bible and is possibly more damaging than we might think.

This is why I say that. When you say that I am enough, you're telling me that I am able to do this on my own. That I myself am sufficient for my life. Being enough means that I don’t need anyone’s help or input. I can conquer, I can fulfill, I can earn my way on my own. Why stop there? Believing I am enough lends me to believe I can overcome anything, even my sins on my own.

Possibly a little dramatic, and I get that this is not what the message is aiming for at all, but I do genuinely believe that too much 'self-belief' feeds my pride and leaves little room for the saving grace and sustaining power of Jesus in me. Because if I am enough, then I don’t need anyone else–including God.

And life where there is no room for God—life separate from God—is quite literally hell.

In fact, trying to live as a Christian without Christ is an oxymoron. He is the very essence and definition of who and what we are. And if we stop to think about it, we're definitely not enough to keep our hearts pumping, much less hold the atoms of the universe together. How then do we assume we can hold our own lives together?

This was the devil's game plan from day one in the Garden. Get them to believe that they have no need for God. I pray that we are not perpetuating that lie in our world today with our inspirational quotes and culture.

It is so vital that we always remember for everything in our lives: "...this is not your own doing (!!!); it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

So we are not enough. What do we do with that? How do we face our overwhelming lives and struggles with that truth in mind?

Well, when searching for 'enough' through the scriptures, Philemon 1:8 answered that. "I am bold enough in Christ." In Christ. Such a simple little phrase, but two of the most powerful words there could be. In fact, Paul uses it over 70 times in his letters.

And like a game that is played in restaurants to change the meaning of the quotes on the sugar sachets by adding on a few words at the end— adding "...in Christ" to the end of "I am enough" changes everything.

Because Jesus Christ is enough.

In Jesus is all the fullness of God, all power, all wisdom, all ability (Colossians 2:9). He is head and authority and sovereign over all things (Ephesians 1:22) This means that he can handle anything, understand everything, know every issue and every solution, and accomplish absolutely all that he wills. He is enough.

Jesus is aboundingly more than enough, for the chaos of this overwhelming life, enough for all the struggles and temptations and inundations.

And you and I, we are in Christ.

“In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God”(Galatians 3:26), which gives us security and identities as kids of the Most High King. We are “created in Christ Jesus for good works”(Ephesians 2:10), which means we not only have a purpose given by God, but also that he will enable us to do what he created us for.

In Christ, we can stand firm and sure (Colossians 2:5), steadfast and anointed for his glory (2 Corinthians 1:21), we stand upright, redeemed and justified (Romans 3:24). In Christ, we are abundantly blessed and made holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:3-4), we are purified and called (1 Corinthians 1:2). In Christ we are complete and full (Colossians 2:10) and can have perfect peace (Philippians 4:7).

The list goes on, but I think you catch my drift.

In Christ. In him alone.

So does this give us a free pass from trying, from working, from doing our best? As Paul once said: “By no means!” We need to acknowledge that we can't do it on our own, but we must also acknowledge that we're not on our own anymore. We belong to God and because of that, he is always with us and we are always in him. God’s grace, which is essentially Christ’s enoughness now lives and works in us, enabling us to truly be enough and prompting us to faithfully and actively run the race he has called us to.

We can make those tricky decisions, because we are in Christ, the fount of all wisdom. We can be kind to rude clients, because we are in Christ, the One who was mocked and despised, yet still loved sacrificially and died on our behalf. We can finish the hard job, overcome temptation, see it through rough patches, because we are in Christ, the Saviour who has overcome the world. And importantly, we can give ourselves grace when we fail, when we aren’t enough—because we are in Christ who already did it all, who lived the perfect life on our behalf, who is not changed by my accomplishments or lack thereof.

We have been given all that we need to live our lives (2 Peter 1:3), but that "You are enough" encouragement too often leaves off the most important part: in Christ. When we lose that, we lose so much. (Sadly we do this with other scriptures too, as I've written about before.)

Focusing on the “you are enough,” gets us stuck on what we can and can't do which will inevitably result in us spiraling into the depths of hopelessness via the pit of pride. Not quite where I want to be.

But when we remember the “in Christ,” the spotlight is shifted. The emphasis changes and the focus is correctly back in place. It's about Jesus, what he has done, what he can do, and what he will do. And it is in this that courage, true, lasting encouragement, is found.

I, on my own, am not enough. Please don’t tell me that I am, for that lie will destroy me.

Instead, let's remind each other of our gracious Savior, mighty King, and empowering Jesus. That his grace is sufficient for us, that he is more than enough for anything we will ever need and that in Christ alone will we find our enough.

I am not enough. But Christ is.