I’m not sure where or when or how the phrase originated, but the last few years I’ve seen many women fretting over not being “enough.”
My first thought on hearing this was “Enough for what?” Enough for their responsibilities? For the demands on their time? Enough spiritually? Enough in their relationships?
My second thought was “Of course we’re not ‘enough.'”
In speaking of his ministry to the Corinthians, Paul states, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us” (2 Corinthians 3:5). In place of “sufficient,” some other translations use “competent,” “qualified,” “adequate”—all synonyms for “enough.” The dictionary definition for “sufficient” uses the word “enough.”
One commentary said this verse hearkened back to a question Paul asked in chapter 2, verse 16. After speaking about spreading the “fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere,” Paul asks, “Who is sufficient for these things?”
The answer is given in the second part of verse 5 in chapter 3: “But our sufficiency is from God.”
Other passages bring out these same truths.
In John 15:5, Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Paul agrees in Romans 7:18: “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
But, he says in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
And he said God told him, in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
And you know what’s even more amazing? God doesn’t do just what’s enough.
In 2 Corinthians 9:8, Paul says, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
In Jeremiah 31:25, God says, “For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul” (KJV and NKJV). Other versions say God satisfied the weary soul. The idea is being saturated, drinking one’s fill.
When Jesus fed 5,000 people in Matthew 14, there were twelve baskets of leftovers above and beyond what the crowd ate.
In Luke 6:38, Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.”
In Ephesians 3:20, Paul says, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (KJV and NKJV).
So, dear friend, don’t worry about your not-enoughness. Let it turn you to His all-sufficiency. Abide in Him like the branch abides in the vine, letting His Spirit work in and through you. Rest in His grace, His strength, His provision for every need, physical, spiritual, mental, emotional. He is enough. He is more than enough.
(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)
Stray Thoughts 