All I Need

A few months ago, late one night, one of my nieces was taken to the hospital.  At first I convinced myself that “it was nothing,” but like any good aunt I was concerned. My concern intensified when tests indicated that her appendix may have burst. As I thought about all the ramifications of that potential diagnosis, I found myself pouring out my thoughts to God. As readers may know, this has been a particularly rough last year and a half for our family, and some of the struggles I have yet to share publicly. As another painful and challenging trial loomed involving someone so precious and so young, I found myself saying to God, “I need her to be o.k.”  It wasn’t a request. It was a demand. I truly felt like I couldn’t take any more heartache.

As I uttered these words though, the shallowness of my faith was quickly revealed. After all, God knows exactly what I need and He has already graciously provided that in the sacrifice of His Son. If, in order for Him to be most glorified, my niece needed to be o.k., than He would provide that as well (which He graciously did.) If not, than I would still have all I need, because I would have Him.

It’s a hard truth. For most of us, God has been gracious in providing us with numerous blessings. And it’s easy to depend on those gifts, rather than the Giver. But if God, in His divine providence, chooses to remove some of those blessings, we still have more than we deserve, because He has provided a way to have a relationship with Him. On top of that, He has promised to work everything out according to His good purpose.  These are blessings to which nothing on this Earth can compare. He alone can give us them.

If Jesus isn’t all I need in life, than He is not anything in my life, because I’ve relegated Him to a place that He (rightly) refuses to be. Christ is not the Lord of my life if He’s “competing” for my affection. He gets first place, or He doesn’t take any place at all. If I say I need Him, plus His gifts, than I have placed by dependency in something besides Him, and He wants to be my everything.

It was an important reminder to me. It reminded me that I need to treasure the gifts He’s given me, but never so much that I treasure them more than I do Him.  And that regardless of what He gives or takes away, because I have Him, I have all I need.

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Joining In

When you’re a kid one of your worst fears is to be excluded from a group. We want desperately to be approved of, cared for, and connected with other human beings. We feel validated when we are asked to join in on whatever activity is going on, especially if it’s something that we want to be a part of.

 

It’s funny how not much changes when we get older. The stakes may be higher and the exclusions commenced under a greater pretense of politeness, but really, we still want to feel like we belong – like we are part of the “cool crowd.”  We want to feel like we are a part of something that’s important.

Yet for the Christian we know that the truly important things are not things of this world but things of Heaven. So we may feel that we can’t join in on what matters, that we have to wait until another time when we will be in our Heavenly home.

Except that we can. Because the business of heaven is worshiping God. However imperfect and faulted this world may be, we can still set our hearts and minds upon bringing Him praise. Not just through music (although that is certainly one great way to worship), but through how we live.

And perhaps this is even greater encouragement for those who have a loved one who has already gone to be with the Lord. Although it can feel like there is a great divide between us and them, we can participate in the same thing that they are doing- praising our King. We don’t have to wait until we are there with them – we can begin giving Him adoration and honor now.

So let us add our own voices to the heavenly chorus. Let our lives be focused on the same thing of those who are enjoying eternal life. Let us join in worshiping our Lord.

 

For a great song that touches on this, check out Sovereign Grace’s The Glories of Calvary [affiliate link].

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