The “I Am Enough” Debate - Conclusion
“Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.” Proverbs 25:16 (Image: Unsplash)
Example Three: Greedy for Gain - King Solomon and Daniel
Proverbs 25:16 and Daniel 1:8
In Proverbs 25:16, King David warned his son, Solomon, to only take the portion of honey (an analogy meant to represent the gifts offered to his son during his soon-to-be reign as King of Israel), avoiding the temptation of gain.
Likewise, in Daniel 1:8, Daniel (who found favor with a foreign king) was offered meat from the king's table and strong wine. But Daniel knew that if he overindulged in these gifts, it would weaken him and open him up to greater temptations.
What is the shared message of these scriptures? Do not defile yourself!
It is nice to want things, friends, and attention, especially if you are in a position of access to great wealth, as were Solomon and Daniel. But the lust for these things is rooted in jealousy, envy, and greed; three things that God deliberately warned us about in his word.
It is a common fact of life that people always want what they cannot have. Perhaps it's because they do not understand why they don't need what they can't have.
When impatience overwhelms their spirit and man allows their mind to fill up with greed, the desire to "have" deepens into a self-righteousness that almost demands what they want or are willing to craft a plan to get that which they want.
This thinking is a sickness that affects millions of people worldwide and is quickly turning man away from God. But there is a simple solution that can save your soul and redirect your mind back to the blessings of God, and Daniel realized this answer - Self-Accountability.
Call it a Come-to-Jesus moment if you wish, but accountability places your situation into perspective and calls you to think about the positives and negatives of each desire cautiously.
However, you cannot think about these things haphazardly. For your self-evaluation to work, you MUST be willing to see your desire through GOD's eyes.
Before you begin thinking that God, the king of all creation, keeps all his best for those in close league with him, you're partially right, but he is not a selfish God and he does not behave like man does...here's the proof:
In Psalm 84:11, God said he will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly in him. All the promises of God are 'Yes' and 'Amen', as it's written in 2 Corinthians 1:20, and he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, as it's written in Hebrews 11:6.
CONCLUSION - THE CASE AGAINST 'I AM ENOUGH' - Hebrews 11:25, also, Romans 14:23
Hebrews 11:25 recounts the action of faith in the lives of the Bible's most notable figures:
Moses, Solomon, Rahab, the children of Israel, among others, are highlighted in this chapter, and the differences in their commitment to faith versus the rejection of faith are highlighted. The reader should read both the preceding verse and those following up to verse 40, because the entire account, up to the faith of Barak, Samson, Jephthah, Samuel, and Gedeon, was considered as examples of true faith amid unthinkability.
The common thread in those who truly believed, as well as those explored above, is found in the source of their help - GOD! Each person was up against impossible circumstances, problems so bad that it could, and should have killed them.
But when the going got tough, and they had nowhere else to turn, they chose not the 'I AM ENOUGH' mantra that Satan uses to fill the hearts of the weak-minded, but chose to believe in Philippians 4:13, which says, "I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me."
They believed in Acts 17:28, which says, "For in him we live, move, and have our being," and in 2nd Corinthians 5:15, which says, "It is Christ we live, and not we ourselves."
As discussed before, believing in the "I Am Enough" mantra eliminates the presence of God. It is a vain, selfish statement and a tool the enemy uses to get weak-minded unbelievers to turn inward towards the unruliness of their hearts instead of the righteousness and redemption of God.
Thus, when we turn inward, we fail to see God working in our lives. Our eyes are fixed on the creation rather than the creator. And we choose ourselves rather than waiting in faith and patience for God and his timing.
As Moses demonstrated in Exodus during the Israelites' harrowing escape from Egypt, through faith, he performed great miracles - fire to guide them by night, a pillar of cloud to cover them by day, the parting of the Red Sea, and the plagues against the Egyptians. Those miracles would never have happened if Moses had placed his faith in himself, if he, too, had believed in the "I AM ENOUGH" mantra.
Why? Because in Romans 14:23, it says plainly:
"He that doubteth is DAMNED if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." (The word Eat, in this reference, is translated to believe.)
Whatever we choose to believe, we spiritually eat- Edify, Affirm, Transpire. A common practice for man, we take what we want to think, edify it, affirm it in both our heart and mind, and then cause the thing to transpire (or manifest) in our lives. But if we are not manifesting the word of God, Romans says that we are choosing to manifest sin, and therefore, we are damned already.
Having heard the testimonies of these three examples, it would behoove the reader to choose a life of faith wrought of humility and a true relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. They are further encouraged to abandon vain sayings like "I AM ENOUGH," in exchange for the promises of God, which are "Yes" and "Amen."
