Have you ever experienced the dissatisfaction of attempting to work a puzzle with a piece missing? On the other hand, completing a puzzle with that final piece gives a feeling of gratification and completion.
One of our deepest desires is to feel complete, to feel whole. Sadly, we often look to things or people to meet this emptiness, thinking something or someone else will satisfy the deep longing in our hearts and supply us with that piece that is missing.
The list of pieces we try to fit in the empty spaces of our lives can be endless, including more money in the bank, a new “toy” or gadget, clothes, a new look, a different spouse or companion, more education, a more exciting place to work, different parents…or, or…the list goes on and on.
The truth is, many people have these “pieces”, yet they admit to feeling just as incomplete as the rest of us. If having all these “pieces” is the answer, places like Hollywood should be filled with the most fulfilled people in the world, but it is not. The fact is that none of these things will ever complete us—ever.
God, our loving Father, has made us this promise; what He has started in you He will bring to completion in you. (Philippians 1:6)
Let me repeat; what He has started in you He will bring to completion in you. This is one of God’s great promises to us. You may want to jot that on a note and tape it to your bathroom mirror or put it on your refrigerator. God completes us.
How does God complete us?
The Good News is that completion is not dependent on us at all, but it is in Christ that we find our wholeness. Everything we need to be complete we have already been given in Christ. This means that we can now live from a place of already being fully loved and leave behind a life tied up with living to gain love. We are given the freedom of living from a place of being completely accepted instead of the drudgery of always striving to earn acceptance.
The obvious next question is…
“Why do we still feel incomplete?”
Our feelings of not being complete come from dwelling continually on things that can never complete us and continually thinking there must be something more we can do or earn.
That is not what the Gospel proclaims. The Good News of the finished work of Jesus declares that we are already complete in Christ. That is the missing piece of the puzzle! Our work is not to try harder, but to believe the simple announcement that “God completes us.”
Let’s talk about it – reply below:
Do you really believe that all you need is already yours in Christ? If so, how does that affect your daily life? If not, what is it that you think you still need to be complete?
ShatteredByTheGospel.com 
Truth. What is my identity? Where do I find the ‘best version’ of myself?
Is it in my career? My relationships? My clothes? My human-admired abilities?
The elevated feelings of euphoria that come from novelty are only temporary – – – this is why Scripture may define sin as fun for a short while.
The novelty of rebellion wears off, and is quickly replaced with a chasing after further novelty.
Thus, sin creates a dullness to the original novelty, producing the need for more sin, as James describes.
That acceptance and ‘newness of life’ from when we first discover our new identities in anything other than God is only for a short season, but the long-term demands are great. In order to still feel accepted, loved, and identified, we must continually one-up whatever we have been doing in order to still feel something.
This is the slow-drip poisoned promise that will never deliver complete satisfaction and acceptance, but only death. Death relationally, death physically, or even death spiritually (if apart from Christ).
That’s the beauty and simplicity of the Gospel. There is no demand for any kind of acceptance-driven action on our part; Christ has already accomplished it all.
Once believed and our identity is in Him, there is no demand to further one-up whatever we’ve been doing to still be accepted, loved, or forgiven. His grace and love is unconditional.
I would say from a Gospel-driven viewpoint, the hardest part of the Christian’s faith is his/her initial belief. The belief from whatever worldview they held, to faith in Christ.
After that, the burden of life and the incessant feelings of needing to earn favor should be less and less as we continue to believe more and more.
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