Is He enough for you?

I was struck by something last night that moved me all the way to my bones. As I was speaking to my students, I was distracted by the fact that they were distracted. This isn't uncommon, for whenever a group of jr. high and high school students get together there is going to be some form of chaos. But last night, I just couldn't get them to settle down.

It was then that something - or rather someone - came over me. There was a sudden newfound urgency in my heart for these students to truly hear what God was trying to tell them. I looked at my students and I saw what I see in most kids their age - a mixture of religion and complacency. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not slamming the students that I serve. It's just that I began to question right then and there exactly what it is that I (and others who serve in churches) are accomplishing with God's people.

I was speaking to my students out of John 6:35-51 on Jesus being the bread of life but now my focus was shifting a little bit. Jesus doesn't want to be a part of your life, I told them, He wants to be your life. Too often we nibble here and nibble there at the goodness of God, but the only true way to have life is to consume what He gives to us. It's not enough to be involved on a regular basis in church stuff or to commit to a week or two for summer missions. To call on God only when it's convenient for you is an insult to God. He has provided better than this for you and He deserves better than this from you.

Why do we as followers of Christ not cling to Him with all that we have, especially when we know that the alternative is hopelessness and emptiness? How can we draw so close to Him at times that we feel like we will explode yet continue to live lives that focus on ourselves while shutting Him out?

Living the Christian life is not all that complicated: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. What's happened is that we've made our faith so much more about us that we have about Jesus. Peter, when confronted with the transfigured Jesus, thought it would be a good idea to build little memorials to commemorate the occasion. Jesus essentially told Peter to shut his mouth and focus on God. But we do the same today by building lavish buildings and investing in expensive programs. We lose sight of our Jesus and expend much of our energy keeping up (and debating about) the stuff that we claim to have built for His glory.

Are you satisfied with Jesus alone? Is He enough for you or do you believe that you need more? Those are the questions that I asked my students and those are the questions that I am asking of myself.