WE ARE NOT ENOUGH: Jesus will always be the only cure!

Y'all, I am really stuck on this lately. No..not stuck...LIBERATED! The Lord keeps bringing me to Matthew 6:25-34 -- THE CURE FOR ANXIETY. Maybe I am thinking about it a lot because I am coming up on the TEN-YEAR anniversary of my overdose at the end of this week. I will talk about that more later, but for now I do think He is saying something to me, and I am listening! A couple of weeks ago, I did a little video post called "Jesus is the cure for anxiety, AND EVERY OTHER SIN," but when I posted it on Facebook, they were not pleased and kept blocking it.

So, it occurs to me that our culture is pretty dead

set against us truly being healed and set free.

Whatever...satan -- with a lower case s -- we know is trying to rob us of the joy that comes from living in Shalom that God gave us through Jesus Christ. So, let's not stop talking about it. Let's not change words to suit that fear. In fact, let's think deeply and speak freely about it CONSTANTLY!! Start here...Consider this thought posed by Daryl, a fellow student of mine, in a discussion post based on the passage:

Jesus is teaching us a powerful truth: we are more than our needs. We are more than our anxieties, more than our to-do lists, and more than the pressures we carry each day. Our primary calling is not to strive for earthly security but to trust in the One who created us and knows exactly what we need.

Now, let's read the passage again. We can never read it enough...

Ok, think again about what my classmate said about how much more we are than the things that we allow to weigh us down. I believe we take on things because of our culture's mantra that "we are enough." Believing that lie, all our energy goes into proving who we are and what we can achieve. Christ alone is "enough," and in Him we become much more than we ever could on our own merit. 

STOP NOW! Really think about the difference in those words: We are not enough, but we have been made more. We can never be enough to navigate this world. This is by God's mercy. If we could, we would not need Him, and without receiving Jesus as our Lord, we would go to hell.

Let's stop being afraid to speak that truth!! Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life! He is the ONLY way to God, and if we do not call on Him as our Lord and Savior, we will go to hell. This is not some sort of threat. It is the way eternity works, and if we keep dancing around this truth for fear of offending, people will be lost forever. That has to be more important to us than anything else.

But when we do receive Him as our personal Lord and Savior, we become more. We come alive in Him and are able then to live out what we were created for!

        Now back to Matthew 6...Daryl also noted that "Jesus calls us into a better way, a life of faith, a life of surrender, and a life of confidence in the care of our Creator."  With that in mind, I found it interesting to think that Jesus' command to seek and trust God first is, as we know, given before His death and resurrection; ergo, the people already had everything necessary to follow through on what He was telling them to do. Jesus would not require something that God had not already made possible.

However, we, as readers on this side of the resurrection, have an advantage. We have the full account of God's provision through Jesus for our salvation and eternal home with Him in glory. Therefore, we have even more reason to set aside all of our worries and believe that He truly cares for us. 

          I wonder, though, if we have a harder time trusting because we are drenched in expectation based on a world full of extraneous stuff we are surrounded by. Thus, our definition of need is quite simply put: WRONG.

Of course, our hearts are drawn to passages like 1 Peter 5:6-7 where he says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you." (CSB)  

Yet, if we really consider Peter's intended reader and the context of this message, we might gain perspective. This passage was not meant for a fluffy feel-good moment. The Christians were scattered in Asia Minor and were facing persecution and suffering on a heightened level. In verses 10-11, he declares that God will give them all the strength and support they would need, but they would indeed suffer. Thus, just as Jesus' command to seek God first, Peter's encouragement was a call to actively engage—mind, body, and spirit—in trusting God because He is the ONLY way for them to be comforted in their fear.

HE IS THE CURE!

       So, we have to bring this all down to two questions...

First of all, if you do not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, today is the day. It is God's desire that everyone would come to know Him (1 Tim 2:3-4). So, the question is, are you willing today to give your life to Him so that you can live out the "More" that He created you to be for His glory and your good? If you need help, please reach out to me. I'd love to help walk you through the best decision you will make in your life!

For those of us who already call Jesus Lord...Are we willing to choose -- to make every effort -- to fix our eyes on Jesus, trusting Him above every circumstance, believing that God has made everything available to us to overcome through His glorious Son?

          Friends, I am stopping now to pray that you have an overwhelmingly clear experience with God today. I pray that He makes something available to you that only you and He know you need, and that your faith is increased and His name is multiplied through you! I pray that all of us are challenged to live in the truth that JESUS CHRIST IS THE CURE and openly share it wherever we go!

Lord, you have made us more; now make us willing and able!

P.S. Many thanks to Daryl for his input!!

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