Fullness in Christ

and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. (Colossians 2:10 NIV)

and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority (Colossians 2:10 NASB)

 

          “He completes me.”  Or, “She completes me.” 
          “He’s my better half.” Or, “She’s my better half.”
          We seem to have a sense that we aren’t enough on our own, and it’s human nature to seek that enoughness in another person, an activity, a cause, or even a pet. But so often, our “completeness” reminds one of Larry Norman’s song, Reader’s Digest. “Beatles said All you need is love, and then they broke up.” So often it seems as if the person about whom we say, “_____ completes me” turn out not to and we blame them for not being enough. The problem is that we’re looking for enoughness in the wrong place.

          That’s not the case with Christ. He does not leave. The whole idea of grace is that it makes up for our insufficiency. In Him, we are complete. I’m like some people about this. My answer is, “Oh yeah, well, what about this, and that, and those thousand other things?”

          This goes back to what I said the other day. We get so upset about how we have failed and how we are likely to continue to fail for the rest of our lives. How epressing! You mean I get to keep being incomplete and insufficient for thirty or forty more years?
         If you want to look at it that way, maybe. But God keeps working, so the insufficiency of today is less than the insufficiency of yesterday. It doesn’t stay the same. What’s more, while I am aware of my insufficiency throughout my life, I was more insufficient ten years ago than I am now. The world won’t end if I’m not enough today, or tomorrow, or a year from now, or even thirty years from now. In fact, it will be a better place if I accept my insufficiency and let Jesus take care of completing the work He began in me.