You are not ENOUGH and this is a good place to be in your walk with God. What does it mean to find sufficiency in Christ?
I’m going to poke your doctrine and long-held beliefs in this post, you’ll bleed but you’ll recover and heal up into a sound belief
You probably heard this motivational and good belief system as a way to perk you up, encourage you and help your mind. I heard it too and taught it too. I’m talking about the trendy teachings of “YOU ARE ENOUGH” “YOU ARE ALL YOU NEED”. Now, the question is: Is this a sound teaching? Is it in accordance with the scriptures?
You do know that teaching can be good, sound high and polished even deep and ‘rhemaciously’ cooked but not sound, right? How do you know a sound teaching or doctrine?
I heard this truth for the first time on Alisa Childer’s YouTube channel. Your guess is as good as mine. I was mad and angry. How dare she say I’m not good enough?
You see, as Christians who read the bible, we must be careful to keep ourselves from falling away from the accurate scriptural application. Motivational speeches are great but for a Christian, the bible has even better and sound teaching
A lot of people will object to this as always, but you know what? The bible is our template of study. so, we’ll consider what the word of God says about your insufficiency and a better sufficiency in christ plan for you. The proper understanding of this will help you to be emancipated from this modern world belief system and teachings into the very hard truth of the word of God.
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practise have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.
Hebrews 5:14, NASB.
Now, whenever this truth of sufficiency in Christ is taught, men raise up walls of protection because it feels like they are being told not to encourage themselves to feel powerful that they can surmount any challenges. This is not the aim of the insufficiency message
As Christians, we do not train our minds by simply meditating on some motivational quotes said by some mighty generals. We renew our minds by the wordings of scripture. We sit down with scriptures digesting them one after another in prayer allowing the spirit to search our heart with its light of revelation.
When it stumbles on any evidence of self and other atrocities which needs to be uprooted and burnt, it fixes the light on it until you recognize the emphasis of God over your life and character and get rid of that mess. He keeps doing this until we become just like Him
Paul writes in Colossians 2:10 says, “And you are complete in Him.” That means exactly what it says: the sufficiency of Christ. You are, from a spiritual viewpoint, complete in Him.
Colossians were being bullied that they needed something more than just Jesus Christ to know God, something more than just Jesus Christ to be whole. something more than just Jesus Christ to defeat the powers of sin, the powers of the demon world, something more than just Jesus Christ to have salvation, something more than just Jesus Christ to have true spirituality; Christ was not sufficient. And so, Paul just loads his AK-47 with a whole lot of “soundness” and starts firing them at them: the all-sufficient Christ Gospel.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9, it says, “My grace” – that is the grace of God in Christ – “is sufficient for you.”
When you see yourself as enough, you’ll gradually detach and select the verses of scriptures like grains of rice till you find the smooth pebbles that won’t hurt your heels. Gradually, you’ll find yourself attempting to provide answers to your challenges outside the help of God. Resting just on mind mediations, inner power and self-made vigour. This is the harm of the self-sufficiency gospel.
What Is the Self Sufficiency Message About?
When we say you’re not enough, it’s not to say that you can’t achieve anything or that you’re not smart enough to accomplish huge feats. I needed to clear that out of the way because I understand that this is what some well-meaning Christians who lack an in-depth understanding of that phrase mean when they say, “ I am enough”.
It’s a beautiful thing to say encouraging words to yourself within the boundaries of scripture. Do you know what is even more yielding and life-transforming? when you confess the right words of scripture to yourself, believe it and live it. Now, that is the real power. The real power is the sufficiency in Christ.
Every phrase bears its own backend consequences and implications. The self-sufficiency message is a code word for pride. Pride flourishes when it can hide behind safe-sounding words.
High sounding lies and horse ride wishes of this world hide the truth by presenting an attractive disguise.
Self-sufficiency is only a deception that leads us away from God. It is such a facade because it blinds us to God’s provision and presence. It’s scary and humbling to admit my absolute lack of strength and resources apart from Christ. Man is created to be dependent and we are sinful by nature.
What happened in the garden of Eden?
Man’s first attempt to wriggle free from the design of God is the reason we are in the mess we are all in today. A fallen world rotten to the core. Yet, we do not recognize just how incapacitated we still are. We still think we can wriggle our way out of this mess hereby creating more mess for ourselves.
Man sinned; man must die. Then, Christ comes into a picture taking the nature of man, he became sin that we might become righteous, he forsook his total divine nature to partake of our fallen state in order to restore us to that original design in the heart of God.
This temptation to be enough didn’t start today with us, it goes way back to the book of Genesis. As I read the encounter of Eve and the serpent, I see traces of self-sufficiency in the serpent’s proposition and eve’s acceptance to eat the fruit
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Genesis 3: 4-5
First, the serpent preached a sermon so tempting that the traces of depending on God for knowledge and wisdom to differentiate good and bad was totally erased and seen no more. It is the most self-appealing sermon ever preached
It was so well packaged that the woman couldn’t help but consider it twice. As I studied these verses even more careful while writing this blog post, I paused at some point to ask myself “Why didn’t Eve ask the serpent to wait till she got further details about the offer he was making”
I mean, God was literally present every single day in the garden. The Lord had lectured you on what the tree was all about but as soon as a self-sufficiency sermon was brandished at you, you felt weak in the knees and gave in to its whims and drags
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3: 6
When she saw. As soon as she considered in her heart and desired the wisdom and freedom it will give her, she three all good doctrines through the window and embraced the lie of the serpent.
That was when I came to this conclusion, Man is a sucker for self-sufficiency. Regardless, of the height of such a man, there is a hidden part of him that secretly and often boldly craves self-sufficiency. If this part of him is not totally and brutally dealt with, cut off and totally yielded for serious pruning, he’ll be no better than Eve who gave in to the lies of the self-sufficiency gospel
What she didn’t know was that the flip side of this “enough” sermon and being able to tell good and bad will build a wall between her and God. She didn’t know that she would die. That is exactly what self-sufficiency does to you. You slump gradually under the weight of your own troubles and zeal to be sufficient outside the help of God. I can’t imagine living such an arrogant sponsored lifestyle
The Harms of The Self Sufficiency Gospel
We live in such a dispensation where men erect an awesome stature that looks fancy from the outside, well presented and enticing to the human eyes. Until you draw closer, feel its material, unravel its package and discover that it is nothing but ‘dung’ doctrine formulated by man to deceive man and keep him away from recognizing his true weakness and sufficiency in Christ. It holds no solid foundation for your Christian faith. In fact, if anything it bores holes through your pure lenses.
It’s enticing at first because it gives you so much power and self-made goals. It encourages you to be someone outside the total dependency on God. At the bottom of the self-sufficiency, the gospel is its rottenness which it seeks to cover and hide away from the eyes of the wise
- The first harm of the self-sufficiency gospel is total dependency on self. Its all about you. You can do everything outside the umbrella of Grace and mercies of God. You can be great even if you are not in close relationship with God. You are powerful enough and wield so much inner power. This is the danger of the self-sufficiency gospel.
2. The self-sufficiency gospel channels your interest to the power of the soul. This is the point where a lot of Christians forsake scriptural meditations and prayer for yoga practices that taps the energy of the soul. They begin to focus so much on what their soul can offer to them and soon become a god to themselves. They are the only ones who can decide if they’re right or wrong.
3. The third harm of being enough is masking your weakness under the guise of motivational quotes with non-scriptural relevancies to your Christian walk
4. The self-sufficiency gospel takes your gaze away from the cross, the divide between the old creature and the new man. It pulls your interest away from possible convictions to yield your members to death, to everything that represents self in you. Because you’re already self-made. A self-man
5. God didn’t create man to exist outside of his help and dependency. Christ is your wholesomeness and sufficiency. This is exactly what happened to Eve. She wanted her eyes to be opened to see outside of what God permits her to know and do. The first sign of self-sufficiency
See, until you learn to see and acknowledge your weaknesses and frailty, you will never enjoy the help of his presence. So, how does acknowledging that my life is feeble and fragile help me to know and grow in my walk with God?
7 Reasons for sufficiency in Christ-You are not ENOUGH
- Self-sufficiency breeds and sponsors rebellion against God. It will always subject you to utter rejection of his Lordship. Even though He is your saviour, that’s the end. He isn’t your Lord yet because you feel he doesn’t provide your needs neither do you answer to him.
Self-sufficiency is another passcode for rebellion and arrogance sponsored by the flesh and the old man. It says to you “you need to be enough so you can call the shots”. Sorry sis but you can’t call the shots here except Christ is not your Lord.
2. The finished works of Christ on the cross is enough for your redemption and justification. You don’t need to do anything more and deeper to accept it except confess your sins and turn away from them. As a priest, Christ has fully paid for all our sins with precious blood, once for all, never to be repeated again.
And yet, this great salvation must still be freely offered and Christ must keep us in it (Heb. 2:3).
In Him, we have redemption through His blood. the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14).
Our sins alienated us from God but we are reconciled through Christ (Colossians 1:20-23).
If you’re enough, you might as well reject the sacrifice of Jesus and his death, take up your cross and journey to Golgotha to redeem yourself.
3. Self-sufficiency tells you that you can live above sin and the old nature by your own will and determination. Lo and behold! You keep falling and blaming yourself for falling. consider Peter. The Lord Jesus plainly prophesies Peter’s denial, but Peter boldly asserts (twice!) that he would never do such a thing (Matt 26:32-35).
Peter succumbed to the weight of sin because he trusts in himself and looks to his own resources to stand firm. Can you look away from yourself unto the man who gave his life for you? Can you trust the grace of God to pull you out of that agelong addiction and be drowned no more?
Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)
4. Christ continues to intercede on our behalf. Christ occupies three offices of—prophet, priest, and king. In the tension of the already and not yet, Christ has finished his work in each office. And yet, he continues to work through that finished work.
5. You need friends and family. You need a company of well-meaning believers and brethren who can share their faith, journeys, sorrows and joys with. You are never enough because you need others to hold you up when you are down and in a difficult place
6. Every father is proud that they can fill in the role of being a provider and protector for their children. Forgive me if you did not enjoy such fatherhood. Now, I show you such a father in heaven; God. God desires our radical, exposed, admissive daily dependence. We are not enough, and God doesn’t want us to think we are.
He wants us to make bold His generous help for us and to deepen our confidence in Him every day. When we stop looking to self for “enough and sufficiency” and start looking to God for his grace and strength, we become disciples who more clearly display the matchless power and kindness of our Lord
7. Christ is your sufficiency. “And you are complete in Him.” (Colossians 2:10)
That means exactly what it says: the sufficiency of Christ. We are, from a spiritual stand, complete in Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9, it says, “My grace” that is the grace of God in Christ “is sufficient for you.”
Logically, if we are all completely self-sufficient, we don’t need God or each other. When we don’t need God or each other, we have no reason to worship God nor serve anyone. Now, utter denial of your abilities and skills doesn’t fall under the humility power of this scripture. The real humility here is “The Grace of God is sufficient for me.” Whether it be in lack or in plenty
Sufficiency in Christ
If we don’t understand our sufficiency in God, we will never know the reason we ought to rely and lean on him. Neither experience the gratitude He deserves for every moment we are given. We’ll never the help of his presence nether his bountiful mercies upon us.
This is Because we have accredited every effort and achievement we’ve made in our mortal body to be a result of hard work, sleepless nights, studies, intelligence and the rest
Not just God, we will never really learn nor appreciate what it means for one to lean on a friend or seek support from a friend. Well never appreciate God for giving us a family that responds to our beck and calls
I am never enough. I am never going to be enough. I don’t want to be ENOUGH! My sufficiency is in Christ. The real power is the sufficiency in Christ.
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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9
Let this be your guide.
Do you have any comments or questions for us concerning this post? Share your opinion about finding your sufficiency in Christ with us, in the comment box.
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