I follow other singleness blogs online (because that’s apparently what you’re supposed to do when you blog about singleness), and I read a post earlier this month that got me thinking.

An anonymous blogger wrote a post called, “Is Jesus Enough?” She explores this question and then concludes that He is not enough because He is not everything. She writes:

Christians get married because they want to feel loved and share in companionship. Christians have children because they want to pass on their love, have a human to own and care for, to pass on their legacy and expand their family. Christians maintain close contact with family and friends to build support. Christians touch, hug and make physical contact with others to feel human interactions. Christian couples show intimacy just because it feels good. Christians work for and buy nice things to have a sense of accomplishment and enjoy various comforts from their labour. In other words, we have wants and needs that the love or belief in Jesus is not always able to fill and there is nothing wrong with accepting that fact.

I understand where she’s coming from, and I’ve gone through phases (sometimes for years) in which I’ve doubted that Jesus could be enough for me.

But over the past few years, I’ve changed the way I use that word “enough.” I posit that the blogger mentioned above is actually saying that Jesus is not everything.

These past few years, and especially this past week, I’ve been processing the idea that Jesus is not everything, but He is enough.

Jesus is not my snuggle buddy; that’s what my roommate is for. Jesus is not my sister or grandpa or grandma or friends who have died; He does not replace those people in my life. Jesus is not the unborn children I long to hold in my arms someday. Practically speaking, on a physical and emotional level, He is not everything (though I could probably talk all day about how He provides everything I have).

Rather, Jesus is a Great Provider (Philippians 4:19), a Good Father (Matthew 7:9-11), my Future Husband (Isaiah 54:5, 2 Corinthians 11:2), my Coming King (I Timothy 6:13-16), a Righteous Judge (Acts 10:42), my Defender (Psalm 18:2), etc. He is the greatest gift that God could ever give me.

And if that’s not enough for me, then I’m looking in the wrong places for satisfaction and joy. If that’s not enough, then I don’t have enough appreciation for the goodness of God and the depth of His love for me.

God’s love is expressed for me in His Son Jesus, and here’s how I know why:

In my own self and efforts, no matter who I surround myself with, no matter how well I stick to my diet or exercise routine, no matter what my income is, no matter how big my house is, no matter how many hours or dollars I donate to worthy causes (to charity, haha), I will not ever have everything. I won’t. It’s physically and logistically impossible to have everything. For instance: I live with a great roommate now; someday I will probably live with a husband. I can’t have them both at the same time.

The Bible says that on my own, I also can’t be the sinful human that I am AND be sinless enough to spend eternity in heaven. As a human, I am sinful. Even if I’d sinned only once in my life (and, let’s be honest, I sin at least once a month, week, day, hour), I’d be so sinful that God in His infinite love/need for justice would have to sentence me to eternity in hell.

However, God, in His infinite love/need for mercy, found a way to give me everything I need to spend eternity in heaven with Him. He sent Jesus to earth to live as a sinless human AND die a sinner’s death – thus satisfying God’s need for justice AND my need for mercy. He sent me a Savior.

God, through Jesus, has given me enough AND everything I need to be His adopted child.

So that takes care of eternity. What about now? Since God is a Good Father in eternity, I really think it’s no big deal for Him to be a Good Father in this lifetime. Jesus didn’t only come so that I could someday in the future maybe like live with Him or whatever. No, He came so I could live a life that glorifies Him now. He may not be everything I need practically to survive, but He is enough.

And He’s been proving it to me lately:

• I got a new job and gave more than two weeks’ notice at my old one. It was really hard not to just drop everything and walk out, but I stayed on for more than two weeks because it was the right thing to do. Several times this week, Jesus was just enough motivation for me to keep going and behave in loving ways to the people who reeeaaaaalllly irritated me.
• During my final week at my old job, my boss had to be unexpectedly gone, so instead of relying on her to make everything right, I had to ask Jesus to help me get enough done without her, so that I wouldn’t leave any of my coworkers or patients high and dry.
• It’s been a struggle this past week or two to be single, quite honestly. I was stressing out about a lot of small things, and my roommate looked at me and said, completely lovingly and jokingly, “Honey, you need to get laid.” And I had to remember that Jesus is enough of a reason to continue being celibate until marriage.

So Jesus may not be everything. Jesus wasn’t even everything to Himself when He was on earth; He still needed people to make food, pay taxes, be His friends, be His followers, and eventually hang Him on a cross and then bury Him. (On a side note, He was enough to rise from the dead by Himself, thus defeating our greatest enemy – death – so that it can never defeat us).

And He is enough – to make me want to be loving, even when I fail; to fall on when I’m out of strength; to remind me that His glory is more important than sin.

So, in answer to the other blogger’s question: yes, Jesus is enough. This life may never be enough; it will certainly never provide everything for me. But Jesus is enough, and He has provided me with everything I need. Including a roommate who just finished making dinner for us. Om nom nom.