And just like that, it’s November. The 3rd “ber” month. 61 days left to a new year. 304 days behind us. Did you blink? It seems each year moves faster.
It’s a great time to reflect on how the year has gone so far. Did it go as planned? Did you see or experience things you never thought possible?
By now, you know no year is exactly the same. Neither is every day. This month will no doubt bring its own surprises and pitfalls.
The only one who’s not surprised by any of it, is our majestic and mighty God.
Do you know Him? You hear a lot of Christians say they don’t know how people who don’t know Christ as their personal Savior get through this thing called life.
I do. You see, I’ve walked this life knowing of Him, but not paying Him much mind. I pretty much willy nilly’ed my way through. Did as I pleased. Took what I wanted. Glorified all manners of things and felt pretty high and mighty neck deep in sin.
Being neck deep in sin might not seem like a big deal, but when you start drowning it, that’s a whole other story.
Coming face to face with your demons isn’t pretty. You suddenly see the things in you that you thought were, well, “not so bad” or “not as bad as the other guy”.
Actually admitting you were either the problem or part of the problem is humbling to say the least.
Nothing worse than being the problem, but refusing to see you’re the problem, then instead of owning up, you blame shift and play victim. Poor, poor, pitiful me, they were mean to me. Look how awful they are.
Adam and Eve perfected that game in the Garden of Eden. And here we are centuries later still playing that same dangerous game.
Adam blamed Eden for eating the fruit off the one tree he was instructed not to eat from. Eden blamed the serpent for her part in eating of the forbidden fruit.
The truth is, the serpent craftily played into her weakness. Sure, the serpent told her some pretty, glittery stuff, but in the end, she knew the rules. The serpent didn’t force her to eat the fruit. She did that all on her own. She wanted what she thought she didn’t have.
The garden and all its glory wasn’t enough. She wanted more.
And isn’t that where it all starts? More. I want more. I want what they have. I want more of ______________. Fill in the blank. You know you can.
People will destroy others in their quest for more. They’ll lie, cheat, steal, and kill for more.
The late Olivia Newton John sang these lyrics in a song called, Never Enough:
“That it’s never enough, never never enough
Why is all that we have simply never enough?
No it’s never enough, never never enough
It’s so sad
Is anything ever enough?”
Christian’s sing how they want more of Jesus. Is that a bad thing? I dunno. On one hand we say His sacrifice on the cross is enough and if He never does another thing for us, we’re good. Then we beg Him for worldly things. So, was His sacrifice on the cross enough? Isn’t His daily giving of our daily bread not enough?
I go to church and I hear we want more people to come to church. Are the people already there not enough? How do we get more people to come? Free coffee? Free day care? A concert? As if Jesus wasn’t enough to get them there. By the way, nothing is free, it all costs someone something.
I recently visited a new to me church. I was immediately offered coffee after meeting the pastor and his wife. Is that the draw now? Don’t get me wrong. I love me a good cup of coffee, but it’s not why I go to church.
By the way, I thought it was cool meeting the pastor and his wife for my first visit.
And this is not me knocking church. I’ve met some wonderful people at church. I’ve witnessed the hands and feet of Jesus tirelessly serving and loving others. I’m just saying the same thing I’ve been saying, we all want more.
Where am I going with all this? Good question. I don’t have a good answer per se, these are just my thoughts entering into a new month.
November, at least in my mind seems to have been dubbed the gratefulness month.
What are you grateful for? Are you daily grateful for what you have or still complaining you don’t have enough.
I know, there’s some real tragic and heartbreaking stuff going on in the world and no doubt in your world. I’d love nothing more than to be able to ride up on my magical unicorn and wave my magic wand and fix all the things, but I’m not a Savior.
We have One of those and my friends, He is enough. He’s truly all you need.
The answer to enough and more, is Jesus.
He is the way, the truth and the life. And, He’s got the whole world in His hands. You’re part of that world. How awesome is that?
One last thought. Don’t get caught in the trap of never enough. It’s one of the oldest tactics of the enemy. Keep them distracted and wanting. Can you see how that leads to more trouble than it’s worth?
Let’s wrap this up. I’ve rambled on long enough. If you’ve made it this far, I pray you have enough. And by enough, I mean Jesus.
Have a beautiful day friends.
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