I want things.  That’s common, right?  Everyone is bound to have one thing they want.  In fact, everyone is likely to want a lot of things.  A lot of those things are good things.  Single people want a relationship.  People that are ill want to get well.  People that are overweight want to look better.  Some of us even have certain clothes we want.  Today, I saw a Gap jacket I wanted so bad! I even tried it on and gave a few poses in the mirror in the fitting room.  You know what, I thought I looked pretty good in that jacket.  I thought it was “date-material-clothing” and that’s when you know you look good in something.  I then whopped out the iPhone, clicked my Bank of America app, and did some math in my head.  I could afford the jacket! Easily!  But…I have other things I want to use that money for this month.  Then I asked myself the hardest question we all hate, “Do I really need it?” No.  But I looked so good in the jacket!  It was a nice jacket! I could afford it! But did I really need it? No.  Now I am not saying it’s wrong to get things we might not really need.  Hopefully sometime soon, I can maybe go get that jacket I really want, or better yet…go on date with that jacket!

Jesus + Nothing = Everything (Tullian Tchividjian).  Say it a few times (You don’t have to say Tullian’s name, it’s just the name of his new book).  Then ponder on “Jesus + Nothing = Everything” for a few minutes.  I can have Jesus, and nothing else, and have everything?  Well the Sunday School answer is of course “yes”.  But I still want want other things other than Jesus sometimes!  I wished I had a Ryan Gosling photoshopped body, could win Dancing With the Stars, and I wished I had that jacked from the Gap store that I could maybe wear on a date someday (I guess the first step would be me asking girl on a date, and she having the generosity to go on a date with me? Most likely.).  But is Jesus and my punny (if that’s a word) weak body, poor dancing skills (pray for me, folks), and me not having a date = everything?  Yes.  It has taken me 20 years to get to a point where I could say yes, but the answer is without a doubt yes.  His grace is sufficient for me.  

I’m writing this to you because I want you to know that Jesus really equals everything.  You don’t need anything else.  You don’t need to match up with Bradley Cooper as the sexiest man alive or appear more beautiful than any girl that Ben Flajnik will have on the upcoming season of “The Bachelor” (yes, I had to google his name).  You don’t have to win anything.  You don’t need that jacket.  You don’t even have to have that date (woah, yeah, I said it).  That doesn’t mean you can’t be sexy (like me…..bahahaha…..NOT!), have Footloose dancing skills, look good in that jacket, and it definitely doesn’t mean you can’t have that date you really want.  Jesus + Nothing = Everything means that Jesus is enough.

I want to try and explain to you over the next few weeks why Jesus is enough for me…and how He is truly enough for you.  Sure, maybe you will still want jacket or the date.  And that’s fine.  Maybe you will get jacket, and, just maybe, you will get that date! But at least if you don’t get it, you can say, “Because of what Jesus did on a cross at Calvary, I have everything.”

Josh Cameron

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

2 Corinthians 12:9