GOOD NEWS!

Peter said Christians cannot "come up short!" We will not be like the family who went "to close" on a house they wished to buy, but were $10,000 short! We will not be like the person who wanted to purchase a new vehicle, but was $1,000 short! We will not be like the person who went grocery shopping, but was $10.00 short! We will not be like the person who went to the doctor, but could not afford the prescription! Peter said that could not happen to the person who comes to our glorious God through Jesus Christ.

Many conclude the letter we call 2 Peter was written by Peter late in his life. That suggests it was written prior to 70 A.D. Jesus' was killed and resurrected about 30 years earlier. We humans are an impatient, restless group. We always have been and always will be. [Fortunately for us, God does not have our impatience problem.]

We impatient humans constantly conclude that something is inadequate, "not enough." The probability: some suggested "since Jesus died and was raised so long ago," he, by himself, was not enough to come to God. They were insistent that Jesus was "inadequate past history." People needed Jesus plus something else to find and belong to God.

Peter said, "Not so!" The patient, glorious God, through His own power, "granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness..." (2 Peter 1:3). What God's divine power achieved through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection was (is) fully adequate for every spiritual need humans have. God sent His son, God sustained His son, God offered His son, God resurrected His son, and God seated His son as the Christ by His side to be our mediator and intercessor-continually! There was no inadequacy in what God did for us!

We do not need "something plus Jesus" to be saved, forgiven, redeemed, spiritually clothed, live in divine mercy, or exist in divine grace. Jesus Christ is enough!

Enough for what? It is enough to partake of the divine nature and escape the physical forces and pleasures that seek to destroy us. It is enough to move us to a diligent pursuit of faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. It is enough to replace the uselessness of evil with fruitfulness in Jesus Christ. It is enough to replace spiritual blindness with the spiritual sight God's power gives in Christ. It is enough to make us certain about God's spiritual call. It is enough to allow us to stand in God's presence. It is enough to let us enter the eternal kingdom.

Following Jesus as his disciple is enough to make us everything God wants us to be! The man or woman with the courage to live in Jesus has total spiritual adequacy! What wonderful news! Take the "guess work" out of belonging to God! Live for Jesus!

David Chadwell

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Bulletin Article, 6 July 2003

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