I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but there just does not seem to be enough; not enough time to shop for gifts, not enough moments to soak in the season, not enough energy to face that family weirdness holidays seem to bring, not enough connection with good friends and loving family, not enough extension cords to finish off the decorating of our house, not enough of that most desirable toy our kids or grand kids were looking forward to for Christmas, not enough tradition to satisfy those pleasant memories, not enough peace, not enough love, not enough joy…it seems at Christmas there’s got to be more.
What is it that pushes this drive for enough, this obsession to find satisfaction? It seems that we keep trying to quench a thirst with drink that though tasty does not satisfy, so we keep trying to find enough. Could it be there is a deeper yearning that when sought, flips finding enough into a new, more fulfilling, motivation?
This was my thought as I read a familiar yet intriguing Bible verse:
Lamentations 3:22-24 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.”
Some of you are remembering the great hymn ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’ (click here to hear the traditional hymn). God is faith and His love, grace, kindness, and peace never run out and are fresh every day. The key in this is to make The LORD our portion!?! So what does that mean that The LORD is ‘my portion?’
Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
To say God is ‘my portion’ is to find our enough in Him. To believe in His daily-fresh mercies, His great faithfulness, His strength, love, grace, and peace, and let the vast, never-ending reality of who He is fulfill our deep desires. We need to…
Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
It means that instead of trying to find satisfaction this Christmas in shopping, family gatherings, decorating, baking, or watching that Christmas special…we take time to dwell on the amazing, awesome truth of God, saying to ourselves He is enough; the love of God is enough we don’t have to try to earn love in any other way, the significance we have in Jesus is enough we don’t have to find it elsewhere, the peace in God and the peace of God is of such a deep level there is no substitute.
When we find our fulfillment in God, our enough, it does not mean we give up on the special Christmas traditions and activities, we just go about them with a different motivation; we shop to bless others with the generosity we have already experienced from God, we decorate, bake, and preserve traditions to share the joy we have already felt from God.
So let’s find our enough in God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the quenching truth of how incredible He is and how much He satisfies.
Psalm 145:1-3 I will extol you, my God and King, and bless Your name forever and ever. 2 Every day I will bless you and praise Your name forever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.
Why not take a moment right now and extol God (express how great God is), bless God (speak of His generosity), and praise God (glorify Him by recounting His magnificent qualities). Do this and you will be finding enough!
Finding enough in The Lord with you this Christmas,
Mike
PS This Christmas season we are talking a lot about finding our enough in God as we take each Sunday in December and walk through the Biblical story of Christmas. If you are not attending a church please feel free to join us (here is a map) or visit our web site for the Sunday messages www.cypresschurch.net.
Messages From Mike 