Friends: No joke: Jesus is enough, but there is so much more … some good, some not so much. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #959

April 1, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Sufficient and Supreme

By Bob Walters

“My grace is sufficient for you…” – Jesus, to Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:9

“… and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.” – Paul, Colossians 2:10

I’ll say right here that Jesus isn’t the only thing we need in this life.

Jesus IS all we need to be saved from our sin, restored to our relationship with God, to discover objective truth and purpose in this life, and to rest easy in the faith, hope, and love eternity promises. That’s life in Jesus, but not everyone buys in.

I guess it depends what we want.  We can desire, attain, and have all kinds of stuff in this life: work hard, be smart, pursue and nurture love, have a family, enjoy a hobby, follow a mission, chase a prize of wealth, fame, fortune, power, or happiness.  All these are available with or without our active engagement, on our part, with Jesus.

How can that be said?  Simply think of all the people who are doing perfectly well in the here and now without a life in Christ. We all know – and have known – many.

Not everybody understands, or believes, in the eternal consequence of unbelief.

Life seems to go on regardless of what we think of Jesus, good and bad. On the flip side of worldly comfort, think of the marvelous warriors for Christ suffering greatly with grief, illness, or human failure who run and cling to Jesus, understanding His grace.

Does a believer need more than Jesus? The church answer, and ultimate truth, is certainly, “No. Jesus is sufficient.” Let’s talk, though, about the richness this life offers when we do stand with Jesus, trust him as Lord and Savior, and live to glorify Him.

What else do we need? We need faith.  Given by the Holy Spirit.  We need a trustworthy Bible translation that sticks to scripture.  Also given by the Holy Spirit.  We need Christian fellowship, a reliable church and preacher for instruction, direction, and inspiration, and we need the love and hope of God that we share with all the world.

We can be creative, fruitful, joyful, and holy. All of it, driven by the Holy Spirit.

Modern Bible Christianity gives short shrift, sadly, to the Holy Spirit.  We have Jesus and God, and then any number of corollary doctrines, add-ons, rites, duties, fashions-of-the-moment, and culture-driven adjustments of “what Jesus can do for me.”

But the necessary parts reside in the Trinity – Father, Son, and Spirit – whose divine relationship is the authority for our two Great Commandments from Jesus: Love God, and love others. Jesus is our true north, and the Spirit is our compass.

We can do a lot in this life without Jesus.  But without Him, the Bible and my heart tell me that the love stops here and stays here. I’d rather not go to Hell, and I love living this life knowing God, Jesus, the Spirit, truth, love, good, and evil all objectively exist and form the divine reality we can trust as we live our days. Life has permanence.

Trying to add our human “truth” – i.e., worldly opinions, caprices, and fears – to scripture is a fool’s errand. Solomon had it right when he said in Ecclesiastes, multiple times, “Everything under the sun is meaningless.”  Meaning resides with Christ alone.

We can “fake it ‘til we make it,” pursuing the passions of this life or even suffering this life’s awful turns. But why ditch the Spirit and rely solely on our own understanding?

Jesus is sufficient and supreme for eternal life. Extra baggage is unnecessary.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) cites John 14:6: There is one door to heaven, Jesus.