“Jesus is Enough”
I want to share an article today about Jesus’s sufficiency. I assume most of you reading this know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Assuming this to be true, can I ask a simple question, “Is Jesus enough in your life?”
Sure, we need tangible things to survive. But at the root of our existence and eternal life is Jesus. He must be foremost and enough through all of life’s highs and lows.
Jesus’ disciples walked with Him, heard Him teach, and witnessed Him perform amazing miracles. Yet, as His time on earth was ending, they weren’t sure He was enough. If we are honest, I suspect many of us are the same.
So, Jesus comforts them in the gospel of John, beginning in John 14:1-14 NKJV. Let’s examine these verses to explain how Jesus Himself said He was enough.
Jesus is sharing with the disciples that He will leave them soon. They are troubled, worried, and afraid. So, Jesus comforts them with hope for the future. Hope is the joyful expectation of good and undergirds and builds our faith.
John 14:3
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” NKJV
Christians do not need to be troubled, worried, and afraid—no matter how dark life’s circumstances are. Jesus is preparing a place for us and will return for us. Hope springs eternal in the believer who knows this as truth.
Jesus was assuring them it is for their benefit that He goes away. He won’t forget or abandon them. His words also reach us and embrace us with His love. There is a way forward into the unknown future, and it is following Christ. Our eternal hope and home are discovered in Him.
John 14:6
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” NKJV
These words have confronted and disturbed the world’s imagination. Here’s my paraphrase: Jesus boldly states:
“I am the way; if you want to know how to get to the Father God’s house, you must come with Me.”
To many, these statements of Jesus, penned by John, are arrogant, prideful, and narrow. But these unique and exclusive words simply can’t be ignored; they are foundational to truth and our Christian faith. Jesus is the king of kings. To remove Him as Lord of Lords denies the essence of Christian faith.
I like what Dr. NT Wright, an Anglican Theologian, says about this passage,
“If you dethrone Jesus, you enthrone something, or someone, else instead. The belief that ‘all religions are really the same’ sounds nice and democratic—though the study of religions quickly shows that it isn’t true. What you are really saying if you claim that they’re all the same is that none of them are more than distant echoes, distorted images, of reality. You’re saying that ‘reality’, God, ‘the divine’, is remote and unknowable, and that neither Jesus nor Buddha nor Moses nor Krishna gives us direct access to it. They all provide a way towards the foothills of the mountain, not the way to the summit.” 1
Wright continues:
“It isn’t just John’s gospel that you lose if you embrace this idea. The whole New Testament—the whole of early Christianity—insists that the one true and living God, the creator, is the God of Israel; and that the God of Israel has acted decisively, within history, to bring Israel’s story to its proper goal, and through that to address, and rescue, the world.” 2
God the Father, through Israel, brought forth His Son, Jesus the Messiah, the savior of the world. He is not merely a great teacher, prophet, or healer. He is foremost God in human flesh and the way to Father God and eternal life. Jesus is the way, not a way!
In John 14:8, Philip asks Jesus,
“Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” NKJV
“Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” NASB
Sufficient or enough are from the Greek word arkéō which means sufficient, enough, and contentment. To be fully satisfied.
What was Philip after? One word: assurance.
First, he wanted assurance that Jesus was authentic, that He was truly the Son of God. When it becomes a revelation to your heart that Jesus is the one and only way to God, it is transformative. You are born again, filled with the Spirit!
But like Philip, we want assurance. The good news is that the Holy Spirit gives us that assurance. The Spirit witnesses to our hearts that we are the children of God!
Secondly, he wanted to be sure of the peace and rest Jesus promised. Can we really trust you, Jesus? When we are firmly convinced about who Jesus is and what He is to us now and eternally—it is enough. We are at rest, at peace, and content.
John 14:9 Jesus said to him,
“Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? NKJV
The Father’s nature and ways are the ways and nature of Jesus. Jesus wept over a friend who died, washed the disciples’ feet, cared for the poor, and healed the sick and oppressed.
What is the image of God? Jesus!
Hebrews 1:3 states Jesus is the “brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…” NKJV
He is mercy, grace, and love! He promised to be with us always and that nothing could separate us from Him or His love (Rom. 8).
Through Jesus, God has promised to provide for us, protect us, care for us, and give us abundant life.
But we often doubt, worry, and fear when things seem contrary to God’s promises.
Yet God’s promises are plentiful in His word. Consider His promises just in this passage of John:
13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:13-14 NKJV
God already knows what we need before we ask it. So why pray? Is it merely a means to an end? To get what we desire, no matter how noble the desire? Or is there a higher purpose in prayer?
I like what Oswald Chambers said in his devotional His Utmost for His Highest:
“The idea of prayer is not in order to get answers from God; prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God. If we pray because we want answers, we will get huffed with God. The answers come every time, but not always in the way we expect, and our spiritual huff shows a refusal to identify ourselves with our Lord in prayer; we are here to be living monuments of God’s grace.”
Have you ever been ‘huffed’ or angry at God because prayer wasn’t answered in the timing or way you imagined? Maybe disappointed? Have you ever wondered why you felt (or feel) this way?
For most of us, I believe the root issue is that our human nature, apart from God’s Spirit and a renewed mind, opposes prayer, worship, and solitude with God.
Result, we struggle with our walk with God, much less live in victory.
I’ve discovered that nothing is enough until Jesus is enough.
Our flesh opposes God’s things. We must actively draw near to God, believing He will draw near to us. We must know as truth that Jesus is enough. Nothing or no one else can completely satisfy.
We often look to others to fill our loneliness, emptiness, boredom, and struggles. However, no amount of fellowship, friendship, or relationships can satisfy our deepest needs—only Jesus can.
We need others and relationships. We are to bear each other’s burdens and pray for one another. We are to confess our faults to each other and pray. All of these are important. But these relationships can’t replace Jesus.
Our flesh also desires the things of this world. We want what the world offers, and left unchecked; these desires can affect our walk with Jesus.
Money, possessions, passions, and pleasures can all disappoint. Nothing will completely satisfy the deepest longing in our souls. Only Jesus.
Corporations understand our desire for more. In our 21st-century culture, we are bombarded by marketing efforts to get us to buy more and have more (for example, Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
But what we really need is more of Jesus! Or rather, a revelation that Jesus is Enough—always! Sure, He blesses us and promises us abundant life.
But is Jesus enough when you or a loved one is in need? Do you love and trust Him enough even when the answer seems delayed? Only faith anchored in His love and the truth of His word will endure.
Final Thoughts…
Perhaps you find yourself in a desert place, and your human reasoning sees only unanswered prayer or lack.
I have a question for you, “Is Jesus Enough?” Only a faith anchored in Jesus, viewing Him and life from an eternal perspective, can answer “yes” with conviction!
Prayer may not be answered in the manner or timing that we would like, but He promises to provide for those who love and obey Him. You see, Jesus is enough—always!
He patiently works with us to transform our thinking to understand this truth and reality. His desire is that we would then simply follow and obey Him when He leads us to pray for a friend or neighbor or go to the nations.
Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2). As we learn to keep our focus on Jesus, God’s faith develops in our spirit.
The moment we take our eyes off Jesus, we lose sight of the primary goal of our faith. He is the goal, our destination, and the reason we do what we do. Follow Him!
