Jesus Is All I Want and All I Need

There is a plethora of songs with these phrases in them. We sing them and we believe they are true. Nothing in this world compares to what we have in Jesus and there isn’t anything that we have that we would not freely give in exchange for knowing Christ and having Him as Lord in our lives. While we can sing these songs freely and with much emotion, do we live these words out in our lives? Is this what people see in us? Is knowing Jesus the only thing that we ever need?

As I take an inventory and assessment of my life, there are many things that I put a lot more value than it deserves. I spend more time on things that I should and while it is quite alright to have hobbies, collect items of interest, and take care of our possessions, we must ask ourselves these questions.

1. Would I freely give anything I own if all I really need is Jesus?

2. Do I spend most of my time building on the relationship that I have with Him? Pastor David talked about pursuing a stronger relationship and abiding with God. Getting to know Him more. A great way of knowing Him is to read and study His Word. And along with those 2 things is to have a desire of pleasing him and doing His will in our lives. These three things, abiding with Christ, reading our bibles and doing His will all work hand in hand with each other. We can’t just focus on one of them and expect our lives to change or get any better. Our sanctification process requires all three to be working simultaneously. We must intentionally and sacrificially pursue Him. We must commit to getting to know him more and strengthening our relationship with Him. This requires the Holy Spirit to give us this desire and to help us pursue Him. A strong relationship with him requires us to commune with him continually. In order to commune with Him, we must know Him better, and we get to know Him better through reading Scripture. Scripture teaches us about who God is, what His will for our lives are, how to please Him and what brings Him glory. Once we learn what these things are, we act upon it and put this knowledge into action. 

The more we grow in our faith, the greater out appreciation for Him becomes as well as our desire to pursue Him more. This becomes cyclic and it repeats itself as we grow. Whenever we break this cycle, we bog down and need to be reenergized. 

I know this makes complete sense and we’ve all probably experienced this growth and desire to grow in our faith. The tough part is being consistent with it; pursuing and praising God regardless of our current situation or circumstances. I know this isn’t earth shattering information but it’s a good reminder that I need to hear, time and time again. I hope this is a good reminder for all of you as well and an encouragement to you. This will also help us to be better equipped to witness to our unbelieving friends, neighbors, and co-workers.

Pastor Bryan