“Enough!”

I have enough! I don’t need anything more to make me happy, successful, valued or desired. I have enough! Those are counter-cultural words. They go against the predominant religion of our day. I think Mark Buchanon defines that religion very well in an article he wrote a number of years ago in “Christianity Today.”

He writes: I belong to the Cult of the Next Thing. It’s dangerously easy to get enlisted. It happens by default—not choosing the cult, but failing to resist it.

The Cult of the Next Thing is consumerism cast in religious terms. It has its own litany of sacred words: more, you deserve it, new, faster, cleaner, brighter. It has its own deep rooted liturgy; charge it, instant credit, no down payment, deferred payment, no interest for three months. It has its own preachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles; ad men, pitchmen, celebrity sponsors. It has, of course, its own shrines, chapels, temples, meccas; malls, superstores, club warehouses. It has its own sacraments; credit and debit cards. It has its own ecstatic experiences; the spending spree.

The Cult of the Next Thing’s central message proclaims, “Crave and spend, for the Kingdom of Stuff is here.” Sanctification is measured by never saving enough; for the cult teaches that our lives are measured by the abundance of our possessions. Those caught up in the Cult of the Next Thing live endlessly, relentlessly for, well, the Next Thing—the next weekend, the next vacation, the next purchase, the next experience. For us, the impulse to seek the Next Thing is an instinct bred into us so young it seems genetic. It’s our paradigm, our way of seeing. It’s our unifying myth. How could the world be otherwise? (from “Trapped in the Cult of the Next Thing,” by Mark Buchanon, “Christianity Today,” September 6, 1999)

If we are honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that we all have belonged to that cult—or maybe still do. It is the religion of our culture.

The Christian faith is a counter-cultural faith. In Romans 12, we are told, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” A huge part of that transformation is to realize that in God, “I have enough.”

When the Apostle Paul was suffering with a painful physical condition, he prayed to God for healing, but God’s word came to him and said, “My Grace is sufficient for you…” God’s grace was enough for Paul. It was all he needed. God’s message is the same for each of us who follow Jesus Christ; “My Grace is enough.”

We don’t need something new and bright and shiny. We don’t need the next thing to excite us or entertain us. We don’t need to drive a BMW to feel like a success or live in a bigger house because our friends do. Jesus makes it very clear that the measure of a person’s life does not lie in the abundance of their possessions.

The Grace of God is all we need to find the good life we are all looking for. And the amazing thing is, we don’t have to kill ourselves working for it and striving for it. It comes to us as a gift—without fanfare, quietly and softly through the presence of God living within us. God’s grace is enough. Enough to find all we are longing for.

In fact, God’s grace is more than enough. When we find it, we experience a superabundance of life. We realize that we have far more than we really need and can start giving things away to those who really need them. When God’s grace is enough, money loses its power over us, and we are free to give more and more of it away and bless a world mired in poverty.

May you know the riches of God’s grace and the great truth that His grace is all you will ever need.

Grace and Peace, Pastor Tom