Do we believe at a heart level that God is all we need?  Before we say “yes’ and move on, I think if we’re honest with ourselves, it’s a struggle for all of us who are pursuing intimacy with God.  We like the approval of others.  We like the affirmation from a partner.  We don’t like disease and sickness.  We don’t like suffering loss.  There are a great many wants in our hearts that are not bad, but if we allow them priority and supremacy over our hearts, they can be a be a barrier to intimacy with God, leading us away from Him, His joy, and His peace.

2 Peter 1:2-4 – “² May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

³ 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, ⁴ by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

What do you need for this life?  God.  You’re going to stumble at times in your pursuit of God, what help does he afford?  Grace upon grace.  What is the desire of your heart?  Peace and joy.  How is it obtained?  The knowledge of God and His promises.

It is in the Word of God that we come to know that God is faithful, trustworthy, forgiving, and eager for our joy in relationship with Him.  If you do not root these truths of God into your heart, then understanding His promises will mean nothing to you.  If I tell you that I’m going to pick you up at the airport, but the previous 3 times you’ve asked me I did not show up – you will have little faith to believe I will show up this time.  God is always faithful, and so we can hope in His promises to us, knowing both that He has all power to secure them, and that he is faithful to do all that He has said.

What is the promise of God?  That we who have been called in love to Jesus, to believe on Him for our salvation, have be washed, adopted into the family of God, and are covered in the righteousness of Jesus.  More, that as adopted sons and daughters of God, we have become partakers of the divine nature – the Spirit of God dwells inside us, and we are no longer in bondage to our sinful desires, but having our eyes opened to both the destructiveness of sin and the glory of God, we press on towards holiness – in so doing declaring to our own soul and the world that we belong to our Heavenly Father.

Ephesians 1:3-7 – “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace”

My exhortation to us all today is to refresh your soul continually with the knowledge of God and His promises.  He is faithful, and we can rest in Him.  Even when we are not faithful, God is faithful, and His desire is no longer to condemn, but for your joy in freedom from sin and relationship with Him.  The condemnation was put on Jesus, grace, forgiveness, and joy is ours in Christ.

I can say that in my own life, a great number of years were wasted trying to make others think I was a “better person” than I was in my heart.  I didn’t want to share my sin struggles because I worried about being judged by others.  That is foolishness.  Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and He died not for the “self-righteous”, but for sinners.  The knowledge of God and the gospel is the answer to every heart.  There is no guilt in Jesus.  There is no shame in Jesus.  We all are imperfectly pursuing God, but as we do, we rest in the promises of the finished work of Jesus.  My encouragement is to as quickly as possible surround yourself with Christians who will hear your heart struggles without judgment, but with a heart to remind you of the grace of God and His promises to you.  No one becomes “holy” through willpower – we become holy because we see God as better, a greater source of joy than our sin.  God truly is all we need, and our hearts will find rest in Him.

Grace and Peace,

Adam