Category: Christian Growth

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Loving the Unlovable

In his second Inaugural address, March 4, 1865, just a little over a month before he would be assassinated, Abraham Lincoln uttered these immortal words:

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Abraham Lincoln spoke those words at the end of a time in our nation’s history when America almost did to herself what no one else has been able to do—destroy her. Though the war was over, the battle was not. Bitterness and anger were still in a fever pitch in this country. But Lincoln knew something that Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount, and that is the only salve that can cure the wound of bitterness between enemies is the salve of love. But it is more than just an ordinary love. It is a supernatural love, a divine love that loves the absolutely unlovable. It is one thing to love a friend; it’s one thing to love a relative; it is another thing to love your enemy.

It’s not always easy to love the unlovable. Who are those people in your life? How do you love an enemy or one who persecutes you?
I heard about a woman who had some chickens and her chickens got out of her yard into a neighbor’s yard and infuriated the neighbor.
This woman was a godly Christian woman, but her neighbor was an ungodly man that she had witnessed to many times without any success.
This man just despised her. He despised Jesus, he despised the church, he hated the Bible, and he hated her chickens.

Well, one chicken got through the fence and this man picked it up and wrung its neck and threw it back over the fence. She happened to be in the yard and that dead chicken landed right at her feet.

That evening she knocked on his door, and when he opened it there in a big bowl, piping hot, was this lady’s famous chicken and dumplings. She gave it to him and said, “It occurred to me today that in all of my years I have never prepared a meal for you, and I just wanted to give this to you and hope you enjoy it.” It broke that man’s heart. He invited her in and she led him to Jesus.

In the “Sermon on the Mount” Jesus said,

Matthew 5:43–47 (ESV)
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
47And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

Once again Jesus exposes how the Pharisees distorted what the Bible really said about whom we should love, and how we should love them.

First of all, they had added something to the law that the law did not teach. It is true that the Old Testament taught “You shall love your neighbor.” In fact, the Lord Jesus Himself taught that the second greatest commandment of all is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” But the Pharisees had added four words — “and hate your enemy.” Yet, that is not found anywhere in the Bible. But in addition, the Pharisees had gone beyond that. They agreed that you should love your neighbor, but they narrowly define who a neighbor was. To them Gentiles were not neighbors.

A saying of the Pharisees has been discovered that reads: “If a Jew sees a Gentile fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out for it is written, ‘Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor,’ but this man is not thy neighbor.”

In other words, the Pharisees taught it is okay to be bigoted; it’s okay to be prejudiced. If a person was not Jewish and did not have the same color of skin, speak the same language, use the same type of accent, they were not your neighbor. Does that sound like anyone today?

Jesus defined who your neighbor is when He was asked: “who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied with the story of “The Good Samaritan,” (Luke 10:25-37).

I’m sure you are familiar with the story, but let me remind you of an important point in that account. When the man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, they stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. First, a priest came by, saw him and passed by on the other side. Then a Levite came, saw him and passed on the other side.
But a Samaritan came to where he was and when he saw him he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

What is significant about this story is that the Samaritans and Jews hated each other, and I mean “hate.” This is how much the Jews hated the Samaritans. When a Jewish person was in Judah and wanted to travel to Galilee in the north they had to pass through Samaria. But there was no way they were going to travel through Samaria to get to Galilee, so they would cross the Jordan river go north pass Samaria and cross back over into Galilee.

Jesus pointed out that it was a Samaritan that had compassion on the man . . . a foreigner loved the man where his own people would not.

Jesus goes beyond “Loving your neighbor” and says, “But I tell you, ‘Love your enemies.'”  He defines that even further in Luke 6:27-28 where He tells us to “bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use and persecute you.”

Jesus goes on to say in vv.46-47,

Matthew 5:46-47 (ESV)
46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same?
47And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

If you only love people who love you back; if you’re only kind to people who are kind to you; if you only treat people the way they treat you, you’re no better off than a pagan or an unbeliever.

No matter how good you try to be to others, people are going to be mean to you. Somebody, somewhere, at sometime is going to do you wrong.

When Jesus tells us to “love our enemy and pray for those who persecute you” there may be some that say, “that is impossible,” but it is not impossible. Whatever God commands us to do, God empowers us to do. When you become a true child of God you have that love.

Romans 5:5 (ESV)
5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Don’t say you can’t love your enemy. If you are a child of God, you have in your heart right now the love of God, which has flooded your heart through the Holy Spirit.

Few would disagree with me that Jesus tells us to “Love your enemies.” But the issue is not whether Jesus commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, the question is “Am I going to obey what Jesus tells me to do?”

There may be some who will keep hating those who hate them, taking vengeance on those who malign them, refusing to forgive those who mistreat them and failing to pray for those who persecute them.

“Four Steps on How to Love the Unlovable in Your Life”

1. Pray unceasingly:

A. Pray for your own heart

Ask God to soften your heart towards this person, to put off anger and hatred, to put on meekness and kindness, to understand this person’s struggles and meet them with compassion.  Ask God to allow you to see them as He sees them.

B. Pray for them

Ask God to be at work in their hearts, drawing unbelievers to himself and sanctifying believers to become more like Jesus.

2. Forgive them.

Yes, it can be very difficult to forgive people who have hurt us.  But do you really want to live with anger, bitterness, and resentment?  As Christians, we are commanded to forgive others, as God forgave us.  Forgiving people doesn’t mean condoning their actions.  It means letting go of your bitterness and resentment toward that person, or a desire for revenge, and handing them over to God to deal with as He wants.  Let God do His job.

Forgiveness changes our own heart and attitude and it allows us to move forward and be right with God.

3. Love unconditionally:

In this sense love is a verb.  Jesus shows us how to love the unlovable.  It’s not to just tolerate them.  Or just not make fun of them.  Or to pretend you love them.  Instead, we should serve them.

Here’s why:

1) Serving gives us an easy way to see how we should love.

It’s not just some mushy, hard-to-grasp emotion, but an action.

2) Serving someone has a way of changing the way we see them.

If you are continually looking for a way to help someone, it’s very hard to think they’re worthless.  It’s very hard to stay mad at them.  Serve them. “Serve them?” you ask.  “Are you crazy, I don’t even like being around this person!”  Yes, serve them, the way Jesus served others, which teaches us about love and humility.

To serve means to humble ourselves to them.  Serving someone is one way of showing love, and a sincere act of servanthood can soften hearts.

4. Find specific ways to bless and encourage them.

Write them a note of appreciation.  Tell them you are praying for them.

 

Sergeant Jacob DeShazer was a bombardier in General Jimmy Dolittle’s squadron during World War II. While bombing Japan, his plane was shot down by antiaircraft fire. He bailed out of his plane and was captured. He was placed in a 5 ft. wide cell in a prison camp.

He was beaten, whipped, spat upon, tortured, and forced to undergo some of the most gross indignities you could imagine. He developed an intense hatred for his guards, and all he wanted to do was to get his hands on one of their throats to squeeze the life of him.
They continued to torture him. Everyday his hatred would grow until it became like one gigantic mountain. He had only one reason for living and that was to one day get revenge on these guards.

One day a Bible was brought into that prison. It was passed around and it finally came to DeShazer. He began to read it, and he came across the words of Jesus that said, “Love your enemies.” Well instantly the love of Jesus melted that mountain of hatred inside of him, and he was filled with the joy of Jesus Christ.

From that point on every time he was tortured, beaten, whipped, or harassed, he would just simply say, “Lord, help me to love my enemies.”

When the war was over he returned home. He determined that God wanted him to go back to Japan, not to seek revenge, but as a missionary to tell them about the love of Jesus Christ.

The story of Jacob DeShazer’s conversion and return to Japan was printed in a little gospel tract. One day a Japanese man who was disheartened, broken, dejected, and suicidal, was given that tract by an American stranger. He read it and his heart was touched. He began to read the Bible for himself and he gave his life to Jesus Christ. His name was Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. He was the Japanese officer who spearheaded the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. He, too, began to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ all over Japan because of three words: “love your enemy.”

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Finding Healing From Anxiety and Depression

 

 

Many years ago a young Midwestern lawyer suffered such deep depression that his friends thought it wise to keep all knives and razors from him. During this time he wrote, “I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not.” He was wrong. He did recover and went up to become one of America’s most-loved presidents, Abraham Lincoln.

You may have never experienced serious depression, a depression some describe as deep, dark and paralyzing. Many know exactly what I’m talking about.

A child offered this story:

I’m a child who suffers from depression (and have a lot of friends who are too), and so wish that someone would reach out. Yes, you may not be able to get rid of it, but sometimes it really helps for a child to know your parent loves you, cares for you and supports you, instead of leaving you alone to your own devices to try and figure it out alone. It’s not ever a “choice” to be happy for us. Depression/anxiety is so much more complicated than that. If I could, I would choose to be happy, but… alas, I cannot. I make choices daily to try and be happy, but they seldom work. Sometimes just knowing someone understands we are feeling pain for no reason, cannot control our emotions sometimes, sometimes cry for absolutely no reason at all, feel afraid of things when it makes no sense, etc. can really help to sooth the frustration and pain. Just be there for your daughter regardless, and try to be understanding that it’s not a choice we make, it’s something so deep and complex that often, yes we can read a thousand books about it to try and understand and yet, it still is nonsensical. A cure would be wonderful, but for now, love, support, and understanding are crucial for anyone suffering with Depression and/or Anxiety.

Melisa Bernards wrote a poem about her depression. She says about the poem: “This poem is about the smile we let the world see while inside we are dying a little every day.”

Behind The Mask
© Melisa Bernards
Published on February 2015

Hiding the hurt, hiding the pain
Hiding the tears that fall like rain.
Saying I’m fine, when I’m anything but.
This ache in my soul rips at my gut.
My skin is on fire, I burn from within.
The calm on my face is an ongoing sin.
The world must stay out, I’ve built up a wall.
My fragile lie will collapse should it ever fall.
Loneliness consumes me, it eats away the years
Until my life is swallowed by unending fears.
Waiting for someone to see I wear a mask
And care enough to remove it, is that too much to ask?

There is no magic formula to bring healing to those who struggle with anxiety and depression. There is no quick fix. But there is a Person who can bring healing for the pain, joy in the sorrow and give you a peace that surpasses all understanding. His name is Jesus!

What does the Bible say about anxiety or depression?

The Bible never uses the words “depressed or depression” but uses words like “anxiety, discouraged, losing heart, being weary, downcast, sad, forlorn, downhearted, mourning, troubled, miserable, despairing and brokenhearted” to describe that emotion that many struggle with today.

To be weary means, to become tired in spirit; discouraged.  Jesus said:
Come to me, all who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).

Paul told the Christians in Galatia, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

“Fainthearted” or “to lose heart means, fainting in your souls; to give up.

“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted lose heart” (Hebrews 12:3).

When a person becomes discouraged, weary or when they lose heart, they run the risk of losing hope. Once hope is lost, they see no avenue for help. They don’t believe they can be helped and they don’t have the desire or energy to seek help. This hopelessness can lead to despair.

Important Signs of Anxiety, Discouragement, Depression

Emotional:
Sadness, restlessness, hopelessness, impatience, irritability, anger, unnecessary self-criticism, feelings of inferiority, feeling of guilt (true or false), unexplained mood swings

Physical:
Loss of energy, unexplained weight loss, unexplained physical complaints such as continuing headaches

Changes in eating patterns, including eating more or loss of appetite

Changes in sleeping patterns, including excessive sleep or insomnia

Mental:
Apathy (loss of motivation), difficulty making simple decisions or fulfilling responsibilities

Changes in behavior, such as increased daydreaming or fantasizing

Thoughts, words, plans, or acts that are suicidal

Possible Causes of Discouragement

There are many causes of discouragement or depression, some biological and some spiritual in nature.

It could be caused by:
Chemical imbalance
Hormone imbalance
Physical injury
Medication reaction

A physician should be contacted to have these issues and others checked out.

Some discouragement may come from life situations . . . external stimuli . . . things we are going through in life. There are those who believe all problems are physical and should be handled with medication. Others believe all problems are spiritual and medication should NEVER be used. I don’t believe either position is all right or all wrong. The truth is that there are issues that are biological/physical in nature and there are those problems that are spiritual in nature and it is not always easy to discern the cause of a problem.

Let’s start with some simple causes that need to be addressed:

1. Lack of adequate rest

2. Lack of proper diet

3. Excessive Stress

We find Jesus was in this state of distress prior to being arrested and crucified.

“And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.
Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me” (Matthew 26″37-38).

4. Suffering
“. . . For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come” (Matthew 18:7).

We don’t have to be controlled by our circumstances!

Physical: a handicap, a long-standing or debilitating illness (including ongoing severe pain), or a terminal illness.
Emotional: a serious illness or death of a loved one, marital problems, work-related stress or losses, problems in the lives of one’s children.

5. Anger
Mishandled Anger: repressed (“stuffed”) resentment or anger out of control

6. Guilt
True Guilt: a refusal to make things right with God and/or others.

False Guilt: an unwillingness to trust God’s promise of forgiveness (1 John 1:9) or the result of false accusations by others or one’s own conscience.

7. Feeling Sorry for Oneself Because of Circumstances

Jonah was commanded to go to Nineveh to preach repentance, he ran the opposite way (Tarshish) for he HATED those in Nineveh, they were enemies of Israel. After God’s supernatural intervention in Jonah’s life, He did preach to the people of Nineveh, they repented of their sins and God “relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them.” But it displease Jonah and he became angry and said, “O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.”

8. Disobedience to God’s Revealed Will

King David experienced tremendous distress and physical trauma as a result of his sin.

Psalm 32:1–5 (NASB95)
1How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!
2How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!
3When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long.
4For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
5I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

9. Personal Expectations of Others or God That Are Not Realized

Proverbs 13:12 (NASB95)
12Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

10. Fear of What Might Happen

Matthew 6:34 (NASB95)
34″So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

11. Loneliness

Some people tend to be loners because of circumstances in their childhood development. For example, growing up with an unaffectionate or overly critical parent may make one shy away from intimacy with others. People with low self-esteem often withdraw from social situations they believe will lead to rejection. There are also many social factors that contribute to loneliness. Loneliness can result from “situational factors,” circumstances in life that increase the possibility of isolation. People who are unmarried, divorced or widowed are more likely to encounter loneliness simply because they are more likely to be alone. However, loneliness can also occur when a marriage relationship doesn’t produce the closeness we expect.

We are told in Proverbs that “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”

Luke 12:22–26 (ESV)
22And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.
23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
25And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
26If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

In other words, what does being anxious do that helps you?

There are those that struggle with anxiety and panic attacks every day, worrying that they may be suffering from a dangerous disease or at risk for many dangers.

But what does worrying about the disease do to cure it?

Five hundred years ago, Michel de Montaigne said: “My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.”

Now there’s a study that proves it.  It turns out that 85 percent of what subjects worried about never happened.  Anxiety does nothing to improve one’s lifespan, both in longevity and in quality.  God is not angry about our depression, He acts as a loving Father.  He is our hope in the midst of depression.

One of the greatest causes of anxiety and depression is fear.

Deuteronomy 31:8 (ESV)
8It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

Hebrews 13:6 (ESV)
6So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

In many ways anxiety shows that the person has not yet been able to put full trust in God

Psalm 27:1 (ESV)
1The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Isaiah 41:10 (ESV)
10fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

This verse sheds light on two things we must understand to overcome anxiety associated with fear.

Fear not, for I am with you (who’s with us?)
be not dismayed, for I am your God (who is our God?)

The God who created the universe?
The God who delivered Israel by parting the Red Sea?
The God who protected Daniel?
The God who used Gideon (a farmer) to save Israel out of the hands of the Midianites with 300 men?
The God who raised Jesus from the dead?

Shall I go on?

I have two questions for you to ask yourself.

1st question: “Who is in control?”

Who’s in control of everything that happens? What problem do you have that is BIGGER than God. We have to settle in our minds, once and for all, “Who is in control?” Is it fate or happenstance that governs our lives? Is God sovereign over all things or is He not? Is there anything that happens that He is not aware of or cannot change? Does God have a plan for your life?

Can anything thwart God’s plan for your life?

Isaiah 14:27 (ESV)
27For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

The nation of Israel was in the middle of 70 years of captivity when God told Jeremiah to tell them about His plans for them. The people were scattered, away from their homeland; they’d lost everything they knew and loved, and circumstances were totally against them.  Yet, God had a plan for them . . . plans for welfare and not for evil, to give them a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV)
11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

The Bible tells us, “that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

When Paul penned the verses from the Holy Spirit in Romans, Christians were being killed for their faith, thrown to the lions, crucified, burned, imprisoned.

Sometimes there seems no rhyme or reason for the pain and suffering we experience.

But what we need to remember at those times, perhaps more than at any other, is that nothing we have to deal with — changes, disrupts or thwarts God’s plans for us.

Nothing we go through means that we’ve been separated from His love, means that He has abandoned us, means that we’ve been forsaken or that God isn’t still in control.

God is in control!

God is sovereign!

2nd Question: Can God be sovereign if He isn’t omnipotent?

The sovereignty of God means that He has total control of all things past, present and future.
Nothing happens that is out of His knowledge and control. He is the only absolute and omnipotent ruler of the universe and is sovereign in creation, providence and redemption.

To be sovereign . . . God has to be “omnipotent.”  God could not be in total control of all things if He was not “omnipotent/all powerful.”  Throughout the entire Bible God is shown as sovereign and omnipotent.  Jesus displayed his power in the calming of the sea. Do you remember the account when you were in Sunday School.

Mark 4:35–41 (ESV)
35On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”
36And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.
37And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.
38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
39And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
41And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

So we have established that God is in control . . . sovereign over all of your life. There is nothing that can happen in your life that He is not powerful enough to change. Why should that be a comfort for us?

Because God loves us!

1 Peter 5:7 (ESV)
7casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Psalm 55:22 (ESV)
22Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Philippians 4:6–7 (ESV)
6do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

How will by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving letting our requests be made known to God give us peace which surpasses all understanding? It is because we have a sovereign, omnipotent, loving God and a high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

And we are told in:
Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)
16Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

It is in God whom we must put our trust. For there is no other whom we can trust.

Let me close with scripture that gives hope to those seeking a shelter.

Psalm 9:9–10 (ESV)
9The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
10And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 20:6–7 (ESV)
6Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand.
7Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Psalm 55:22 (ESV)
22Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)
5Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

 

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The Sufficiency of Christ

In his classic book, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis wrote about this mythical letter from the demon Screwtape to his apprentice, Wormwood, who was attempting to keep a Christian believer from practicing biblical Christianity. In one of his letters he wrote:

My Dear Wormwood,

The trouble about the set (beginning) your patient is living in is that it is merely Christianity. They all have individual interests, of course, but the bond remains mere Christianity. What we want, if men become Christians at all, is to keep them in the state of “Christianity And,” . . . . If they must be Christians let them at least be Christians with a difference. Substitute for the faith itself some fashion with a Christian colouring. . . .

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape

C.S. Lewis exposed in his allegory one of Satan’s clever strategies against the Church . . . that Christ alone is not adequate for His people. The devil started in the Garden of Eden convincing Eve that what God said was not the truth, and then substituted God’s truth with a lie. The Satan has continued this strategy by convincing many believers that what they really need is “Christ and.” His scheme of Christ plus something has been pervasive in the contemporary church and has opened the door to a flood of man-centered philosophies that include Christ plus psychology, Christ plus spiritual mysticism, Christ plus emotional healing, Christ plus self-esteem, Christ plus knowledge, Christ plus church growth strategies, etc. There is no such thing as “Christ and.”

We frequently talk about Christ being all-sufficient, but I fear that it has become little more than a theological cliche. We live in a world that constantly bombards us with alternative belief systems that preach that something or someone other than Jesus Christ can quench the thirst of our souls.

The cover article in the December 22, 2003 issue of TIME magazine, “The Lost Gospels,” describes the popular rise in early non-canonical books such as the Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth, Gospel of Peter, and the Gospel of Mary. Marcus Borg, author of The Heart of Christianity says, “There’s a lot of interest in early Christian diversity because many people who have left the church, and some who are still in it, are looking for another way of being Christian.” The TIME article states that Princeton professor, Elaine Pagel, claims to have found a Christianity less keyed to make-or-break beliefs like the virgin birth or even Christ’s divinity and more accepting of salvation through ongoing spiritual experiences.

We are told in Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.”

We need to realize that all we need is Christ. Paul said, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances . . . I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13).

Something in Paul enabled him to experience spiritual contentment and strength in the midst of indescribable tragic circumstances. In 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 he described what his ministry for the sake of the gospel had entailed: imprisonment, floggings, beatings, a stoning, shipwrecks; danger from rivers, bandits, his own countrymen, Gentiles and false brothers; hunger and thirst, days and nights without sleep. Yet, he was able to say, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

To keep Paul from exalting himself, God gave Paul a “thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him.” Paul entreated God three times to take it from him. God’s answer was not what Paul had asked for, but was what Paul needed. God said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul’s response was that he would rather boast about his weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in him. Is that the response we have when faced with uncertain circumstances? Is the primary focus in our life to be empowered by Christ?

This ability was not something Paul was born with, it had to be learned as he grew in grace and knowledge of his Lord. It was the result of a long and painful process during which Paul somehow weaned himself from reliance on anything or anyone else. He learned the lesson that, Jesus is enough! Either you believe in the adequacy of Jesus Christ or you don’t. Paul did, and it made all the difference in the world in how he dealt with defeat and rejection and how he coped with what the world threw his way.

Spiritual leaders must once again embrace the sufficiency of Christ and call their people back to it. Christians must covenant with God to be men and women of the Word, finding their resources there and applying them to every aspect of their lives. You’ll never know what the Word can do if you don’t study and apply it. It isn’t simply enough to say you believe it. It must occupy an exalted place in your life. Since God Himself exalts it and magnifies it (Ps. 138:2).

We must hold fast to Christ’s sufficiency. Never adding to it or taking from it. In Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). In Him dwells all the fullness of deity in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). We have been made complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). And nothing can ever separate us from Him (Romans 8:35-39). Christ is all Sufficient!