We lack everything -- take courage

Book 2, Chapter 1

-Part 6, Continued-

“The rest,” says Caussade, “is His business.” (Page 49)

We fail to appreciate how much of our life involves “the rest.” If we could but glimpse God’s unseen undertakings on behalf of each of us our faith would know no limits. Indeed, our salvation is boundless, as the great hymn declares (“O boundless salvation, deep ocean of love …”), but in truth, our faith is no match for the wonders and the beautiful acts of love that he amasses towards us.

God, it seems, will always be more than we can contain.

Again and again we are reminded in the Scriptures of God’s loving, fatherly, mothering watch over his beloved children.

Jesus told his listeners not to worry about what they would eat, what they would wear or what shelter they should use. He reminded his disciples before his ascension that he would be with them unto the ends of the earth – that he would never leave them nor forsake them. He had come to seek and save the lost, to give us life abundantly and to unite us in a way that no other existing creature would ever be united to the fellowship of the Three Persons in One.

When Christ ascended we had no authority of our own, so Christ gave the church his authority. We had no knack for healing the sick or bringing the dead back from the grave, so Christ gave these to us. We were without the constant companionship and guidance of Christ, so this was provided through the giving of the Holy Spirit to each believer. We were without a fortress to protect the purity and rightness of doctrine, so Christ gave us the church itself as his body, and promised us that the gates of hell itself would not prevail against it. We lacked organization, so Christ gave us pastors, teachers, apostles and evangelists – and deacons and bishops and careful thinkers – to stay the course of the once-delivered full truth of the Gospel.

We had nothing to offer God in our hopelessness and helplessness. In Christ is all our hope and help. In our emptiness we had nothing to contribute to the movement of the Kingdom of God. Christ is our fullness once we donate our lives to him for his use and receive more than we can hold of his riches.

We can never raise ourselves above what Jesus said, “Without me you can do nothing.” To try without him is to fail.