Sufficient

“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness”  2 Corinthians 12:9

Sufficient – We start a new year with insufficiencies.  There are undoubtedly many things on your “needs” list.  Rest.  Resources.  Money.  Motivation (for all those New Year’s resolutions).  Love.  Liberty.  Paul faced an insufficiency too.  Something that was very disturbing to him just would not go away.  He did what any good follower of the King would do.  He asked the King to relieve him of the burden.  “Take it away, Lord.”  God answered.  It just wasn’t the answer we would like to hear. 

Facing this New Year, I want God to take away some of the burdens I carry.  I want God to fix things.  But when I read about God’s response to Paul, I realize something much more important.  Sometimes I ask God to fix things so that I won’t have to ask God to fix things.  Sometimes my dependence on Him motivates me to ask for independence from Him.  Of course, God doesn’t comply with such insolent thinking.  He can never be talked into doing what isn’t best for us.  So, He tells me “My grace is enough for you.”

The word arkeo has a powerful implication.  It is the freedom to be content.  God’s grace frees us to be content with His benevolent provision.  Who would have imagined that I would discover my freedom in the things that I lack?  Yet that is what God says.  It is precisely because I am insufficient that I discover God’s generosity.  The opportunity to cling to Him in everything is revealed in the very things that I am unable to provide for myself.

“Sufficient” is the word for the whole new year.  It is the word that reminds me that dependence is the primary element of my relationship to God.  Whenever I begin to move away from dependence, I begin to travel the road of self.  If this year is going to bring me closer to the Father, it must be a year that begins with the freedom to be content.  To be fully dependent on His grace.

This is a New Year’s resolution worth keeping:  God, this year I will nourish dependence.  This year I will exercise the freedom to be content in You.  This year I will embrace my weakness as the floodgate of Your power.  And in my resolution, I will remember that my failure to keep it is a chance to lean on You even more.