My Sufficiency

Where do we find our sufficiency? Isn't this a great question to ask ourselves, especially in the days where we are feeling drained and overwhelmed? Maybe your alarm didn't go off this morning and you were late for school (or work), or you have a heavy work load and are trying hard to stay on top of things, or you are struggling in a relationship, or whatever the case may be...where can you go to be filled? 

"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us competent to be minsters of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
~2nd Corinthians 3:4-6 

Here's a shocker for ya: We cannot find sufficiency in ourselves! 

God made us to be in relationship with Him, completely reliant on Christ, who is our intercessor. There are so many times I deceive myself in thinking I can get by on my own, and that is when I find myself the most worn out, the most thirsty for something outside of myself. In the Word of God it even says that we are NOT sufficient! 

We are made competent to be ministers of a new covenant, which if you remember by taking communion, we see that it is Jesus' work on the cross, His body the bread, and His blood the wine...a new promise that we are covered in grace. We are recipients of God's grace and of His promise of salvation. 

"...not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

The word "letter" here in the Greek is "Gramma", meaning "a note of hand, bill, bond, written acknowledgement of debt," and also, "the sacred writings of the Old Testament." Paul is talking about the letter of the Mosaic Law, and what does it say the law does?

 The law is a bill, a letter producing bondage, and we acknowledge, just like Paul does, that we have a debt that just cannot be paid on our own because we are so insufficient and so inadequate to fulfill the requirements it calls for. It is through the law that we see our great need for a Savior. We should be looking to Christ for fulfillment of that need!

 "...For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

What does the Spirit do? 
It gives LIFE!
Here is the Greek word for "gives life": zōopoieō  
I so wish that the phrase in English could be able to convey just how much this means! The Greek word means, "to produce alive, begat; to arouse and invigorate, to restore to life, growing."

God gives, invigorates, restores, grows us up...and WE are the RECIPIENT of all He is, and all He has done for us and is doing in us. Nothing will ever be enough for us compared to God and the riches of His grace, for He is sufficient for every need we have.

So WHO do we find our sufficiency in? 

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 
~2nd Corinthians 12:9

So lay down your burdens at the foot of the cross, and find your rest, your LIFE, in Jesus. He is sufficient when we feel the most insufficient and weak, and His blood is enough for us. He is our sufficiency.