And because you belong to Christ you are complete, having everything you need.

In Galatians 5:17 the Apostle Paul speaks of the spiritual struggle between the Spirit of Christ Jesus that dwells within us and our sinful nature. He says, “The sinful self wants what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against the sinful self. They are always fighting against each other.”

Under the instigation of Satan, one of the things that the sinful self wants is to convince us that we are insufficient. The idea it tries to foster is that what we do and who we are, are never enough; there’s always more that we could have done, and there’s always more that we could be. The sinful self never seems to be satisfied, but is frustrated, falling short of its self-aggrandizing expectations.

This deep sense of being spiritually incomplete in some way forces us to search for something that will fill us up and make us whole. The sinful self works in its own power and its own strength to fulfill its conceited desires. Although we search hard for that something that will fulfill us and make us complete, we never seem to find what we are looking for. Whatever we try to do in life fails to alleviate the spiritual hollowness.

The Spirit of Christ Jesus that dwells within us fights against the spiritual sense of emptiness and incompleteness fostered by the sinful self. In Christ, we are spiritually complete. In Christ, we have the spiritual resources necessary to live the life God wants us to live. We have been given the Holy Spirit, gifts of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit in order to live the way God wants us to live. In Christ, the possibility exists to overcome the spiritual emptiness of our sinful selves.

Thus, we don’t have to allow the sinful self to torment us with its incessant demands for more. We don’t have to make ourselves whole and we don’t have to fill the emptiness, for we are complete in Christ. No matter what state we are in and what stage of life we occupy, we have the spiritual resources necessary to please God right then and there.

Today, then, put an end to the striving for completeness that can never succeed and take your rest in the abundance you already have in Christ Jesus.

By John Huisman, friend of Bible League International