OVERWHELMING SUFFICIENCY
We learned in our last devotion that the word contentment has two primary meanings, satisfaction and sufficiency. Sufficiency for the believer is the knowledge that in whatever way I lack or fall short in my ability to do God’s will Christ in me makes up the deficit. Paul says in Philippians 4:13 NKJV, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The word strengthen speaks of a fusion or connecting point, as if I were a hose connected to Him as the fire hydrant.
It is the knowledge that if the situation calls for a 10 level of patience and I feel at a -5, Jesus in me at this moment is the 15 that makes up that deficit. I love the fact that in the Bible the idea of sufficiency is also at the heart of the promise of “rest” and ease, living a stress-less life. Jesus would say, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” The concept is that Jesus comes under the yoke of whatever we’re dealing with in life and carries the heavy end of the load in such a way that what we are facing is doable and manageable. No matter how hard the thing before us is, we are not going to be crushed by its weight because his sufficiency behind the scenes in our spirit is enough. Have you ever wondered how Paul could’ve survived all of the hardship and torture he went through? This is the explanation.
One of the keys for this rest and sufficiency to operate in us is to choose to walk in a “sufficiency” not a “deficiency” mindset. We see this difference between Caleb and Joshua and the other 10 spies. The 10 said, “We are like grasshoppers in their eyes.” Caleb and Joshua said, “We are well able to overcome them.” This was not a vain boast but a declaration of truth you and I can make. They explained that it would be God fighting for them in the battle. It makes an incredible difference when I see and know that me and God are the majority. Because of who He is in us, we will dominate the enemy’s attacks in any situation that we face.
The key here is to realize that it is faith that connects us to our source. Like has been said, “Those who believe they can’t and those who believe they can are both right.” Hebrews says, “Those who believe enter the rest.” God doesn’t want the truth of Christ in us be just a pleasant thought but a rooted part of our identity. A sufficiency mindset is seeing the stress of the day with the conviction in the back of my mind that as I’m stepping out to handle this I am giving and facing this out of the abundance of what is in God’s pocket. In fact, it is the knowledge that in a sense I am God’s pocket, a vessel and Christ Himself lives in me. I am well able today!