15 September 2012

God Is Enough... But Not In The Way You Think

Fellow blogger and all round cool sister Alise Wright recently wrote that God is not enough (do not bother to reply to that unless you read her blog). It was in reply to something on her Facebook wall that said, "If God is all you have, you have all you need."

This was my reply.

God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone (note that God said this even though, technically, Adam was not alone-- Adam had God there!), so he gave Adam and Eve the gift of each other, then gave them more family and friends and community, growing over time. I would contend that if you have God, you have family and friends and community. That's what I see in the Bible, and what I see all around me. Those who try to live without family and community have serious problems.

If, indeed, God alone is all you have then he will be and provide all you need. But how many of us end up like Jonah or John in the book of Revelation? Precious few, thankfully.

I suspect the provider of the quote above was trying to encourage people (or themselves) in the latter situation, but honestly, if we have a computer and internet access, we probably have no clue what it is like to have nothing but God.

I've known people who went through times they had no one but God, and he became enough, but he brought them to a place with others in their lives. Because we were never meant to be alone.

One of the last things Jesus did on the cross was to provide family for two people he loved dearly-- Mary and John. Every time his followers turned around he was loving on people, and doing things that caused relationship... with their Father first, but never just with their Father.

Don't try to make it on your own. Love people. Let people love on you. Does it open the door to hurt? Yeah, it can. But in the words of Alfred. Lord Tennyson, "tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." But if you really, really love people, you don't lose. They might, but you won't. I think I Corinthians 13 covers that one pretty well. (I'll try to address that soon.)

4 comments:

  1. Thanks, Miles. Now where did I put that community?

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  2. Usually behind a wall. Sometimes I put the wall up, sometimes someone else did.

    Tear down the walls!

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  3. To expand a bit on Jesus providing family for Mary and John. He not only did that, but in doing so gave his mother to all his disciples. Mary is our mother and we are her sons and daughter. Plus we have family in heaven, those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. Family is eternal.

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  4. A revelation I had a while back is that if Jesus died once for all, then everyone out there is my brother and sister, my family. Some of them just don't know it yet. If they die refusing his mercy and grace, it appears they will get what they want, to not be a part of the family. Until then, I have to se them as family.
    This changes everything.

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