Articles
Maybe You Didn’t Want Enough
Maybe You Didn’t Want Enough
Odis Duncan
The flip side. Last week, I wrote about a situation from an advertisement from Apple+ where a guy responds, “Maybe you didn’t want enough,” when he fails to understand his friend’s willingness to be content. This week we move from the sin of discontentment with our physical blessings to the sin of contentment in our spiritual lives.
Let me open with a question? Do you have everything that you ever wanted spiritually? Most of you probably answered, “Yes.” I found salvation, I attend church regularly and I have a good life. What if the answer is yes only because we do not want enough?
1 – Maybe I am content spiritually because I do not expect enough from myself. What are my spiritual goals? Do I have any? Are they challenging and specific or vague, mundane and lazy? Do I want more than a baptismal certificate and my name on the roll or is that enough?
2 - Maybe I am content spiritually because I do not expect enough from others. If I go into Taco Bell expecting pretend Mexican food, I will content with what they serve. If I go expecting true Tex-Mex, or authentic Mexican cuisine, I am not going to be content. The same is true spiritually. If I show up to worship expecting those around me to half-do worship, half-serve, halfway care about me then I will not be disappointed if that is all I get. If I expect those around me to go all in, while they expect the same of me and we challenge, encourage and hold each other accountable – WOW – the possibilities are beyond my comprehension.
3 - I do not want enough from the Lord. Maybe I am content because I have no desire for God to do big things through me and in me. Maybe I am like Israel – content to stand at the border and look at the Promised Land because my God is too small to fulfill His promises. Maybe I am content because I feel the church peaked in the First Century or in the Restoration or in a decade gone by.
Ephesians 3:20-21. "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." God can do far more than I can imagine, but if I am content where I am and where you are we will plateau and that will limit what He can do in us as we move forward.
So…question: Do we want enough spiritually?
