Inspirational Thought of the Day:
God knew we could not be sufficient on our own in heart or deed, so He bridged the gap between our lack and His abundance and declared us adequate.
Scripture of the Day:
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
“Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. 6 who made us adequate to be servants of a new covenant not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
Feeling less than adequate? Like you are never good enough for God? You aren’t. And isn’t that good news?
How can our inadequacy be good news in the presence of a Holy God with Whom we will be held accountable? It is only good news because our God became our adequacy. Or I prefer to say “more than adequate”.
God knew we could not be sufficient on our own in heart or deed, so He bridged the gap between our lack and His abundance and declared us adequate.
To some, the term adeqaute can feel like an insult. No one wants to be considered adeqaute when excellence is our goal. It seems like the bare minimum. But not to God. The word adequate here is “hikanos”, which means “to reach or to attain to a certain standard” (Precept Austin Commentary). This standard? Perfection. Holiness. Blameless. Without sin. Enemies of God filled with sin are adequate to that standard?!
Looking up adequate in the dictionary, adequate describes one who is competent, capable – and I love this word – “accepted”. To be accepted by One Who is perfect? I’ll take that. Anyday, and for all eternity. What a good God!
This adequacy in Christ does not mean we stop seeking to grow in Christ. It does not mean that we will not still struggle in the flesh. But the One Who says we are enough because of the blood of His Son is able to meet us at our place of paucity. But more than that, He is able to then take us at our place of weakness and use us for His glory! How can it be that we would be fit to serve the King of kings? Amazing grace.
Perhaps some feel like the grace of God cannot reach them. Their past or their present sins have somehow defined them. Not in God’s economy. He delights to use the weak things of this world to reveal His magnificent glory and His incredible kindness. We don’t have to fully comprehend such grace, but we would not want to allow our feelings of inadequacy to keep us from the only remedy to heal our sinful condition: Jesus.
Life is challenging and keeping up with its demands is daunting. We never “arrive” down here and can often struggle with the same problems over and over again. We are enough because the God of this universe has declared it to be so. Ultimately, we are adequate because we recognize we aren’t and that only God is. The adequacy of God is greater than the deepest hurts of our souls and He says we are enough.
Lord, thank You for meeting us at our place of need and choosing to set Your grace upon us. Help us to walk in the sufficiency You so freely have given us and to press on in this life for Your glory.