The Blessed Theology of “Enough”

When I was young (back when gifts only appeared on birthdays and Christmas and allowances were a kid’s only means of obtaining stuff in between) I used to try to save up for things. Sometimes, the thing I wanted was truly out of reach. I can recall once or twice my parents asking how much I’d saved toward something. Knowing it would take me forever on my piddling allowance, they would make up the difference.

Oh, the joy of someone making up the difference!

I thought of that this week during a news story about an anonymous donor who paid off all the gifts on layaway in a certain store. What a lovely surprise to learn that those things you’d been trying to pay off slowly in installments would now be yours!

Imagine if you had gifts for loved ones on layaway in a store that constantly raised the prices for things as you made payments. Imagine the weary frustration of making continual payments, hoping one day the item would be yours but suspecting the game would always be stacked in the store’s favor.

That’s how most people live. With the sense that their lives are on layaway and every day they make payments but the store owner is constantly raising the price. A life built on the theology of “if I just give a little more” is an exercise in desperation, sadness, and fatigue.

This is why Jesus came.

This is why we celebrate His birth.

Our lives were held hostage in the layaway closet of the prince of this world. Many of us were making payments through good works and good choices but always with the suspicion that it would never be enough. And this was the truth. We would never do enough to have the gift of our own lives released back to us to enjoy.

So, God sent His only Son. And He calls each one of us to Him and asks, would you like me to pay off your balance? When we say “yes,” He pays our debt and hands us our lives as a gift – an eternal, everlasting gift.

No fool would continue to make payments to a store once the balance was paid and the gift was theirs. The prince of this world is a cruel store manager and sometimes tries to continue to send us bills. We can ignore these because we now have life within us as proof that they are ours, free and clear.

Don’t allow yourself to be driven by the theology of “just a little more.” It’s a lie. If you haven’t decided to follow Jesus, know that it will never go away. You will always be chasing “more” and at the end, you will still owe the store your life.

If you do follow Jesus, you can ignore those phantom, harassing demands for continual payments. Use the Word of God to stamp on them “Paid in Full” and send them right back to where they came from.

Loved ones, we are free. Truly free. In the midst of the flurry, the work, the activity, and the celebrating, stop for just one moment to remember you no longer operate under the theology of “just a little more.” Because of Jesus, you know rest in the theology of “enough.” He has paid the price to give you your life and you can now rest in Him, rejoice in the freedom, and freely live.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,” I Peter 1:3 ESV Celebrate Jesus. Because of Him, we have all we need for life and in Him, we are enough to be called children of God.

Merry Christmas, loved ones. I call you that because that is what we are – loved ones. Deeply, completely, thoroughly loved by the Almighty God and that is surely enough. I need nothing more and neither do you. You have done enough. You are enough. Enough, already, rejoice! In Jesus, we have been completely freed! Tidings of great joy, indeed.

 

The Blessed Theology of “Enough” https://t.co/zcBOCKaDZb #MerryChristmas #amwriting

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) December 24, 2015