Jon Goodwin

There is Never Enough

There is never enough…And I hate it!

Last spring I was in Mexico.  I was standing in a large courtyard with a number of other folks, and we were handing out food to Mexican families in their small town.  When the people came through there were smiles, hugs, and God bless you’s spoken.  It was a beautiful thing.  Our group fed nearly 300 hundred families.  It was truly amazing.  I had a smile on my face nearly the entire time.

Then the food ran out but there were still people in line.  At first, we gave away the few things we had left.  A vegetable here and there or a bag of rice but then, nothing.  We had nothing left.  We did not have enough.  The truth is, there is never enough.  This killed me.  While many in my group happily cleaned up and celebrated the good that was done, I kept on my sunglasses so that my tears would be covered up as I looked at the faces of those who walked away empty handed.  Mothers and fathers who genuinely did not know where their next meal would come from.  They walked away dejected with bags empty.

The truth is, there is never enough.

Jesus said, “You will always have the poor.” (Matthew 26.11) This is not Jesus saying, inaction is ok.  Rather it was a statement of reality that speaks to the truth that our work is never done.  But still, it kills me.  As a dad, I can’t imagine standing in line hoping that I could get free food to feed my hungry family only to go home empty.  

So why is there never enough?

I often wrestle with this question.  I feel as though I am living in a paradox. I believe there is enough, but I also believe there isn’t.  After all, isn’t Jesus enough?  Yet, hopelessness prevails in many lives.  Is there enough or isn’t there?

I believe that God provided enough resources necessary to take care of all His creation adequately.  He provided enough for human flourishing.  When God is the one in charge of providing and distributing His resources, there is always enough.  When 5,000 people were hungry on a hillside and Jesus distributed food, there was enough.  When the nation of Israel was hungry in the wilderness and God provided manna, there was enough.  God’s provision is purposeful and just right.  

So why isn’t there enough?

I believe that God’s resources have been mismanaged and squandered and therefore there is the illusion that there are not enough resources to care for His creation adequately.  When Jesus said, “the fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few” (John 4.35), He wasn’t saying there wasn’t enough help.  He was saying there wasn’t enough people willing to work.  God had not miscalculated the need/laborer equation.  Rather those willing to work were few.  

There are many in this world who are tempted to blame God when people suffer.  They are willing to blame God when there is not enough.  They are willing to blame God when things aren’t getting done.  Often these critiquers sit idly by waiting for others to fulfill the need they clearly see.  Yet they fail to see, God has allowed them to see so they can do.  They are the reason the fields don’t have enough workers.  They are the problem.  Their eyesight isn’t broken but their heart is.  

If there is one thing the world needs more of, it is servants.  There is enough money.  There is enough food.  There is enough stuff.  There are not enough servants.  

So next time you are tempted to say, “You know what they should do”, perhaps say, “Here am I Lord, send me.” (Isaiah 6.8)

Jon Goodwin

Servant of ALL

“If you want to be great in My kingdom, be a servant of ALL.” -Jesus

This idea of being a servant of all is not designated for times when it is convenient, not just when those in need of service look like you, vote like you, speak the same language as you, and dress like you. ALL is a pretty wide net. All includes “every tribe, every tongue, every nation.”

When considering this concept, if we include a “but, what if they…” then we aren’t getting it. God’s commands do not include asterisks, exceptions, and exemptions just expectations. The expectation is not that we can say it, the expectation is that we would live it.  

Jesus spoke the following words, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”  He did not ask His followers how much you know rather He said, do what you do know.  At some point we have flipped the script.  We place a large amount of weight on knowledge and have seemed to relax a bit on the doing or have simply relegated the doing to being nice.  

Please do not think that I am diminishing the importance of knowledge.  I am not.  I live in pursuit of it every day of my life.  But at the end of the day, you and I will be remembered not by what we knew but by what we did with what we knew.  

I have a relative that at one point told me the entire plan of salvation.  Is that enough?  Nope. She flat out rejects it as truth.

I know people who believe the Scriptures when they say “all people are image bearers of God and therefore have value” but at the same time live very privileged lives and never consider that Jesus heart was positioned towards “the least of these.”  This is not a gap in knowledge.  This is a gap in obedience.  

The problem is that our faith is often big enough to embrace a truth while we attend Bible Studies but is not big enough to embrace while we are interacting with the marginalized.  In this Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep My commands.”  Jesus does not just want your amen to be something that comes out of your mouth.  He desires that your amen would be something that flows from your life.  Our hearts should be bursting with the idea that I am convinced therefore, I do. 

In Romans 12.1 we read, “Therefore I urge you, brethren by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  How does one present their bodies as a living holy sacrifice?  It is much more than putting on the mind of Christ.  It also includes the hands and feet.