God is Enough

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”— Philippians 4:19

Like many other Americans, I ventured out on Black Friday to take advantage of sales. I don’t normally shop on Black Friday as I don’t care for the crowds, limited parking, and stress. But my daughter needed some clothes, so in the afternoon, out we went.

As I entered American Eagle, chaos oozed around me. It seemed everyone in my town had come to that store at the same time. Teenagers and pre-teens (dressed in ripped jeans, sweatshirts, and flannel shirts) lingered around clothing piles, holding up clothes, shuffling around with friends, and looking at their phones. Anyone older than 35 (us old people in normal jeans with no holes) loitered around changing rooms, arms swathed in clothes and hangers, offering unsolicited advice while we sought to find the end to the endless line of shoppers waiting at the check out. Red-shirted employees followed in our wake, re-folding squashed clothing into haphazard piles, plastic smiles in place.

As I stood waiting for the snake-like line to weave around racks with gloves, hats, reindeer headbands, and Slinky bracelets, I watched the harried milieu in front of me. Credit cards exchanged hands, cash registers popped open, pads were signed, free AE blankets were stuffed into bulging bags. And all I could think was, “Do we really need all this stuff?”

Our consumer culture runs full-throttle from Thanksgiving until Christmas. And it never seems to be enough. We are often running around trying to find that perfect gift, that awesome gift card, that delightful toy….only to sometimes come up short. We search in vain and swipe, swipe, swipe our plastic cards, and sometimes feel empty after opening the last gift, knowing opening them took a fraction of time compared to finding them all. And another Christmas passes.

I think many people are in search of “more”. They don’t feel they have enough, earn enough, or are enough, so they fill the emptiness with relationships, bad habits, material possessions, money, and things. Our culture screams that message to us daily—We are not enough—-We always need more. We need to be more. We need to attain more. And many times we believe it.

But God is enough. He is all we need to fill the empty void. His love, peace, and joy fills in the big holes and little crevices in our hearts and lives. He fills us to overflowing. He is more than we need, and when we place our trust in Him with our lives, we find He is enough to meet our greatest pain and our deepest desires. During this season, let’s look for ways to claim His promises, knowing He is enough!

Prayer—“Gracious God, You are Enough. Help me to not put my trust in temporary, empty things, but in your grace and love that will sustain me forever. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”