“Jesus Is Enough”

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weakness, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

Have you ever felt that you are just not good enough? Do you have thoughts of insufficiency surrounding your faith or who you are meant to be? Most if not all would consider this to be a part of their human experience, in some form or another. Sometimes this belief is imposed on us by others, but more often it is a narrative that we create over time. There are so many reasons, perhaps good, perhaps bad, that we may have these thoughts. Either way, what we know as believers is that it is in our weakness that God displays His strength. Perhaps we can learn to reorient these thoughts, and change them from being a discouraging element of our lives to a reminder that God wants to show His glory in our lives more than we can ever know.

In the verses previous to the passage above, the Apostle Paul speaks of his “thorn in the flesh”, which was something in his life that was persistent, humbling, and uncomfortable. But rather than simply removing that hardship, God delivered the promise above, helping Paul and us realize that God in His sovereignty chooses to work with the broken, and not without. God does not call us to pursue goodness or “godliness” in and of ourselves. Rather, we are to realize that He has called us to holiness (1 Peter 1:15-16), and as we have all already failed at that, the only way this is achieved is by taking on the holiness of Jesus Christ, by repenting of sin and confessing Him as Lord. Now we are freed to truly pursue God and run to Him, because we know that even though our flesh may fail, Jesus is ENOUGH! Paul expresses this walk as such “Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14.

So when those thoughts of discouragement rise, when you feel insufficient, remember that it is there that God says His power is made known. Jesus has taken hold of you, now take hold of him and reach forward for what is ahead!

-Morgan Rohrer (Covenant Member)