You Complete Me

Incomplete.  Do you ever feel incomplete?  Like something is missing?  Like you are waiting for something to make you whole?  I think we have all felt this way at one time or another.  There are times in our lives when we sincerely believe this twisted lie.  If I just had this one thing, the missing piece, I could be truly happy.  For me personally, there have been seasons where I have bought the lie in the following areas of my life:

1.  I am incomplete without a relationship

This is one is huge, especially for people in their twenties.  We are told that this is the prime time of our lives to meet someone, fall in love and get married.  As we wait for Mr. Right to arrive on the scene, we wonder if there is something wrong with us.  Is it ever going to happen?  Too many of us are waiting for a significant other to fill the aching gap of loneliness that we feel day in and day out.  We are waiting for someone to love us, so that we can prove to ourselves once and for all that we are valuable and worthy of love.

Here’s the dangerous reality.  A relationship will never completely satisfy those desires within you.  As wonderful as a husband (or a wife) will be at the appropriate time, that person will let you down.  They will do dumb things.  They will inevitably say and do things that will disappoint you and hurt you.  You can’t put that kind of pressure on the person you are dating or that you marry.  They will always be left feeling like they can never ultimately please you.

In your singleness, learn to enjoy your own company!  Learn to love yourself.  Learn to find your sense of value in the love of Jesus.  God says of you, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jer. 31:3).  His love for you is consistent and true.  It doesn’t change depending on the day.  He never leaves you lonely (Deut. 31:8).

2.  I am incomplete without success

Another area we often feel like we are lacking is in the area of success.  We feel like we haven’t made it until we have a great job with a good salary and benefits, a family and a home of our own.  Again we believe the lie that we won’t be fully happy until we have achieved those goals.  Although those are great goals to have, they should never become the measure of our success and happiness.  God doesn’t define success the same way that we do.  His desire is that we would trust Him and follow the path that He is laying out for us.  God wants us to take His hand and put our complete trust in Him as He leads us step by step.  For Him, true success is obedience to Him.  He can be trusted.  He says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11).

3.  I am incomplete without perfection

I am the type of person that aims to please.  When I do something, I want to do it well and I want you to be pleased with my efforts.  I was always the straight A student.  I was never athletic and I wasn’t popular, so in my academics I found my niche.  I would put pressure on myself to be perfect in this area and I would fall apart, when I couldn’t meet the high standard that I had placed on myself.

Many of us are ultra-aware of our weaknesses.  We feel as though we are fundamentally flawed and cracked.  We exhaust all our energy into keeping up appearances, in order that no one will discover that we aren’t perfectly held together.  A huge benefit of being a part of the Body of Christ is that we (should) be able to be vulnerable with one another in our areas of weakness.  We should encourage one another and hold each other up.  We don’t have to be all things, to all people, all the time.  There is a point where you’ll reach the end of your rope and your strength will fail, but Jesus says that in our weakness, He is strong (2 Cor. 12:9).

Let Jesus complete you.  Your every need and every desire is met in Him.  Let Him show you His love, His joy and His strength.  He will never leave you incomplete.  He promises to finish the work that He has started in you (Phil. 1:4-6).

“For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.  So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” (Col. 2:9-10)