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I love to bake. If I have an ounce of energy, I'll spend it in the kitchen creating something tasty to eat. Perhaps I'm admitting to being a bit of a hedonist, because it's the eating that I REALLY enjoy! And I have no trouble leaving the washing, cleaning, and bookkeeping chores until they absolutely can't be put off any longer, in favor of my more pleasurable pursuit. Just the other day, as I impulsively started a baking project, I quickly realized I was missing one key ingredient and didn't have quite enough of another. (Yes, there's a lesson in planning there, but that's for another day.)
As I sighed in frustration and sank back into my recliner to mope, I opened my email to find my son Christian's weekly letter to his church [https://mailchi.mp/4feacceab580/update-5369169?e=[UNIQID]]. My thoughts quickly turned to my failure to produce the desired tasty treat. It's not that unusual for me to run out of some essential ingredient at a "crucial" time: I just can't seem to keep enough of one thing or another on hand. Just like I can never be good enough to please any human being I love all the time, much less to please my perfect and holy Heavenly Father all the time.
As Christian reminded me, though, our wonderful Creator God knew this from the very beginning. Yes, even pleased as He was with His human creation, enough to pronounce it "very good indeed" (Genesis 1:31), He knew that in giving us complete freedom to choose, we would fall short. But unlike me in my creative efforts, He had the perfect plan in mind. As evil spread and grew in men's hearts, He knew that the only adequate covering would be His own flesh and blood, His only Son Jesus. And unlike my insufficient supply of flour and butter, He was enough. Enough for your sins and mine and all of man's sins throughout the ages.
As Paul declared,
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
And yet the Lord says, to Paul and to all of us,
"...My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness."
(2 Corinthians 12:9 CSB)
I take a lot of comfort in the latter verse these days. Though I never felt that I quite measured up to my earthly father's expectations, for most of my life I felt pretty self-sufficient, thinking I could "do" whatever needed to be done to get along in this world. That's the problem, you see: I was getting along fine in this world without giving much thought to my eternal home. When the difficulties of life take away much of your ability to "do," then you begin thinking more deeply about how little you really CAN do to save yourself or make yourself "useful" or worthy of living eternally in God's presence. NONE of us has what it takes to measure up to God's standards of holiness. Why would we think we could ever be worthy of attaining Heaven?
"But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"
(1 Corinthians 15:57 CSB)
When you realize that you can never be enough, take comfort in this beloved verse:
"For God so loved [Put your name here] that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 KJV)
"He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30)
