June 22, 2021 LACKING NOTHING
James 1:2-4 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
Colossians 2:9-10 “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.”
If you ask a believer how are they are doing spiritually, or how is their walk with the Lord, the great majority would likely say that they need to do this or that, or say that in some way, they are not where they should be spiritually. This response indicates that one is missing a core teaching of the scriptures. It would really be a rare response to hear one respond to the question with something like “I’m good with the Lord; I’m enjoying fellowship with Him and He is pleased with the life I am living.” The wonderful good news of the gospel is that we can enjoy the Lord day-by-day and we can live with nothing blocking our fellowship with Him and we can live with no sense of needing to do certain things in order to be right with Him. James makes the point that there is a connection in enduring trials and being perfect (meaning mature) and complete, lacking nothing. No one like trials, but good fruit comes out of enduring trials and not losing our faith or being defeated in the trial. The trials are the testing grounds. In the trials, we can learn more of God and we learn that in Him, we overcome the trial and we learn that He is sufficient for anything we face. As we learn this first-hand about God, we come to know that we indeed lack nothing and that we are complete in Him! This does not mean that we do not need to continue to grow in the faith, but it means that whether we are babes in Christ or have been a believer for many years, we can be in good standings with Him and enjoy Him daily, with no sense of condemnation or a sense that ‘we are not where we should be.’ This is not to say that we reach a state of ‘sinless perfection’ or that we no longer need to press on to increasing in the knowledge of God. If we sin, we confess that sin to Him, turn from it, and continue walking with Him. Jesus did not come to offer us a life of incompleteness or a life where we never measure up; He came that we might have abundant, full life, and a life where we enjoy Him and He enjoys us. “The thief cometh not, but for to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life, and that they might it more abundantly.” John 10:10. One way the enemy steals, kills and destroys is by lies; he would lie to us by telling us that we do not measure up, that we need to work harder to gain God’s approval-he would condemn us. Let us reject the lies and believe the truth-the truth that God has given us life, that He has defeated sin, that He lives in us, that He loves us, that He wants us to enjoy Him, and that He has made us complete and that we lack nothing! As we get to know Him, it is only natural to want to do the things that please Him. If there are some thoughts, attitudes, desires, or activities in our lives that or not pleasing to Him, let us lay those things aside and embrace all that God has for us.
Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
2 Corinthians 3:5, 9:8 “Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything a having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.” “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
Blessings, Buddy
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