Week 4 | Monday

2 hours ago
2 min read

When we say that life with Jesus leads to becoming more complete, we don’t mean “Done. That’s a wrap. There’s nothing more to see here.” Becoming more complete is about God making us whole with all aspects of our lives integrated and working together in harmony. All systems are go! Becoming more complete is experiencing health and healing, flourishing physically, emotionally, mentally, relationally, and spiritually. It contributes mightily to right actions, right relations, and moral integrity.

The book of Deuteronomy gives us a prayer of devotion that laid a necessary foundation for God’s people. It begins with, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is the only true God! Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”

The prayer encourages the full integration of this “with-God” life into every aspect of ours. The message is clear, God isn’t interested in just one part of us. He wants all things under one roof, so to speak. Eugene Peterson writes, “Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God.”

Becoming more complete also includes opening ourselves up to God’s healing. Have you ever received a package in the mail and begun assembling your new purchase, only to find missing or broken pieces? It’s not the same and can’t be used for its intended purpose in that state. It’s incomplete. As we live life with Jesus, he lovingly shines a light on our missing and broken pieces to heal them. Theologian N.T. Wright says, “God is working at bringing His world to perfection and doing what is necessary to make it complete.”

That work includes you and me.

“May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together - spirit, soul, and body - and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).