12.8.25
Hey, Calvary Chapel Fremont –
Is God good enough for you? If God isn’t good enough for you, you’ll resent the prettier woman and the man with the bigger muscles. If God isn’t good enough for you, you’ll be clamoring after the attention and the affirmation of other people. When God isn’t good enough for you, you need people to stroke your ego and tell you that you’re important. When God is good enough for you, it’s not that you scorn the attention of other people, but you won’t seek it to prop up your fragile self image.
When God is good enough for you, you can give, expecting nothing in return. You can rejoice in the man with the larger church, the bigger house, and the greater reputation. When God isn’t good enough for you, you are resentful and jealous of the success of others. When God isn’t good enough for you, your shriveled soul cries out for affirmation which you may or may not receive. Pray that you don’t receive it. Affirmation is like a drug – you need more and more of it to achieve an emotional high and you’ll seek it in increasingly reckless ways.
There have been seasons in my life when God wasn’t good enough for me. Someone with a bigger church, a more recognized ministry, or a greater reputation would send me into fits of envy and spasms of jealousy. There were times in my life where I wanted to be recognized and affirmed more than I wanted God to be glorified.
But here’s the catch – God hardwired you to need affirmation. The love of your parents, the attention of your friends, intimacy with your spouse, the applause triggered by your accomplishments, the mercies of God and sweet fellowship with Him are all healthy ways of encouragement and appreciation. But when God isn’t enough and we want people to affirm us, dress becomes more immodest and boasting becomes more prevalent. “Look at me. Pay attention to me. Affirm me. Want me. Tell me that I have value.”
In these days, when the rich and famous and beautiful and successful people surround us, it is easy to compare ourselves with them and journey into dark recesses. “I can never be what they are. I can never attract the admiration that they do. I’ll never measure up.” This is a strategic moment in your life; in this moment you need God to be good enough for you.
The Psalmist cried out, “The nearness of God is my good.” The love of God, the attention of God, the affirmation of God is my good. When God is flowing into my soul and Christ is precious to me, as the Bible says, my soul is overflowing with fatness. A fat soul, a soul gorged with God, is a content soul. A fat soul doesn’t pander after the attention of people but rather rests in the nearness of God. May you have a fat soul.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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