Jesus is Enough

Man has two great spiritual needs. One is for forgiveness. The other is for goodness. (Billie Graham)

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13)

Sometimes we complicate this "Jesus walk" so much by what we attempt to 'do' in order to 'work our way to God'. Paul wrote to the early church (and the message remains true to this day) that we can have 'misdirected zeal', well-intentioned steps to 'make our life measure up'. The problem is that we never get to the point of 'measuring up'. To 'not understand God's way of making people right with him' leads to US attempting to correct our life's course rather than allowing God to do it.

- Openly declare that Jesus is Lord AND believe in your heart. We might think those are a one-time deal, but you can trust me on this one, our open declaration of that truth should never end. God wants his children to be continually declaring his truth and showing others the way into his presence. 

- Made right by belief, not acts of contrition. Yes, we are to be repentant for our sin, even feeling a bit of remorse for those choices. We are NOT to be continually attempting to 'make right' what has been made right through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Trust his finished work.

- God gives generously to all who call upon him. Our sinful state isn't made 'better' because we follow some set of rules or regulations. Our sinful state is changed because of what Christ has done on behalf of all who will call on his name and be saved. What is given when we call? GRACE! What we did not deserve, never could earn, and definitely need.

- Anyone who trusts in him will not be disgraced. We have done all kinds of dishonorable things that we cannot 'cover over' or 'atone for', although many will try both as a means of dealing with the shame of their sin. Trust is the basis of our salvation - trust in the finished work of Christ on OUR behalf. Nothing remains unchanged - therefore, there is nothing that can continue to bring shame into our lives.

All of us need Jesus and him alone. Nothing can be added to his finished work. No other 'thing' we can do or way we can 'act' will ever get us closer to God than to trust in Jesus with all our heart, mind, will, and spirit. Openly declare that Jesus is Lord and that his is your redemption. That is both the beginning and the end of all we need in life. Just sayin!