More Than Enough

In a discussion I had with a friend the other day it occurred to me that at the core of my never-ending battle with insecurity, obsessive comparison, and other forms of addiction is a deep-seated root of discontent in my identity. In our discussion it occurred to me that the root of the sin of Adam and Lucifer was the same.

Discontent rears its ugly head in many different ways but for them this discontent manifested at the core of their identity. "I am not enough." Discontent is what led to Lucifer and subsequently Adam's temptation of wanting to become like God. "I am not enough, I need more than what God has made me to be or what He has provided."

So alongside the discontent came pride, "I can become like God, knowing good and evil." And so they--Lucifer and Adam--made their choice to seek autonomy from God choosing evil thereby gaining a new experiential knowledge of what it was to be in rebellion against the Creator.

The wild thing is that the forbidden fruit of rebellious pride has a way of perpetuating the lie of discontent in one's identity. Once eaten the fruit provides the illusion that one has become more in one's self than before. For a little while a sensation of autonomy, power & god-like status envelopes the mind creating an altered inflated ego. It is never enough however. Once the forbidden fruit has been tasted it leads its partaker down a cycle of unending discontent as each delusional episode reinforces the belief, "I am not enough. I don't have enough. I need more!"

I believe it is this cycle which has contributed to the manifestation of addiction and other related issues in my life. 

Which begs the question, "What's the cure?"

Simply, the cure is found in embracing the truth, "God is enough for me. In God I am enough and have all I need." And while this is a profoundly simple truth it is nearly impossible for those who have partaken of the forbidden fruit to comprehend.

Thankfully Jesus came to demonstrate and make this truth practical in our lives. Though we have brought ourselves to nothing and find in our autonomy that we are never enough, Jesus through his sacrifice on the cross reconciles us with the All-Sufficient One. 

By design the redemptive process is made available to those who have found disillusionment in the cycle of broken discontent recognizing the cure could never be found in the delusion of their own self-sufficiency. In addiction recovery circles this is commonly referred to as "hitting rock-bottom". God begins the rebuilding process bringing the contrite to a new state of mind and heart where they can say, "In myself I am nothing, but God is everything to me. In Him, I am and have enough."

In the beginning of Psalm 23, David writes, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." At the very core of our relationship with our Shepherd we find sufficiency and provision which challenges our discontent and our delusions of grandeur as well.