It Is Enough…!

You may be wondering, “What is enough?” “What is the ‘it’ of ‘It is enough’”? We find the answer in the following verse.

The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. (Matthew 10:24-25)

Jesus tells us that it is enough for students to be like their teachers and servants like their masters. So the question for you today must be, “Is this true for you? Is it enough for you to be like your Teacher and Master, Jesus Christ?” Surely you could not desire being exalted above your Lord; would it be your earnest desire to receive a crown of glory on this side of the grave when your Lord received a crown of thorns? May God forbid it!

Throughout His three-plus years of ministry, our Lord was mocked, ridiculed, persecuted, betrayed, denied, condemned, abandoned, beaten, scourged, and nailed to a cross. He entered into this world among the beasts of burden, having been born in a manger because there was no room for Him in the dwelling places of men. He departed this world hanging on a cruel cross between two condemned criminals. Along the way, the Creator of the universe and the Savior of the world had no place to call “home.” As He said, “Foxes have their holes, and the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20).

So if the student is not above the teacher nor the servant above his master, what are we to expect on our way into glory? If we are indeed His student and servant, we should expect to experience much of the same unpleasantness that Jesus received. Despite what some badly misguided “prosperity teachers” would have us believe, Christianity is not about living a life of health, wealth, and comfort; far from it!

The apostle Paul expected to get much of the same as His Savior did, and that is what Paul received at the hands of those who despised his Master. He briefly recounted his trials to the Christians at Corinth; multiple beatings and floggings, stoned nearly to death, shipwrecked three times, naked, cold, and hungry, in danger from the Roman authorities and from his own countrymen. And yet even in his final charge to his beloved companion and co-laborer Timothy, Paul provided the necessary encouragement to remind Timothy—and you and me—that it is indeed “enough” to be like Jesus.

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12)

Is this not the desire of every Christian . . . to live a godly life in Christ Jesus? The more you become like your Master, the more you will face opposition and persecution. And in that persecution, regardless of what form it may take, it will be enough to know that you are like your Lord. The world will welcome you as long as you speak and live according to its ways. But when you choose to live according to the Word, the world will do everything in its power to ridicule you and shout you down.

Knowing that this was the life of our Lord, which ended on a hill outside the city nailed to a cross, let us be strengthened and encouraged by the truth that “It is enough” to be like Him in every way. And that, my Christian friend, includes His suffering.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!