Our culture tells us that life isn’t complete without another person. This concept is portrayed in most movies, songs, and TV shows you consume. Everyone says that the key to completion is to find someone who completes you. 

As poetic as this sounds, this isn’t true or biblical. It is actually a lie from Satan. Searching for someone to “complete you” or be “your better half” is a futile pursuit. As a single Christian, you are not a half person until you are married. Getting married doesn’t make you complete. The pinnacle of human intimacy isn’t the union of marriage but union with Jesus.

When you become a Christian, you are made complete in Jesus. 

Your worth and identity isn’t found in another person. Your worth and identity is found in Jesus. There is no need for you to be made “complete” through dating or marriage because you are made full in Jesus.

But doesn’t Jesus say that “two will become one?” Yes he does. In marriage the two will become one flesh. However, this isn’t an equation about addition but subtraction. Two halves aren’t coming together to make one whole. The miracle of marriage is that two wholes become one. 

Simply put, you are not half of a person if you are single. You are made full through the fullness of Jesus. Your wholeness isn’t dependent on a person. It is dependent on the person of Jesus. 

• Only Jesus gives you purpose. 
• Only Jesus gives you a new identity.
• Only Jesus loves you unconditionally. 
• Only Jesus will accept you. 
• Only Jesus can bring you lasting joy. 

You will never find completion outside of a relationship with Jesus. You will never lack fullness once you are in Christ – regardless of your relationship status. 

Live It: 

• Have you fallen into the lie that you are only complete when you are dating someone or married? 
• Are you pursuing Jesus more than you are pursuing a person? 

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One of the marks of church unity is humility. Humility doesn’t mean putting yourself down but lifting others up. This is achieved when we serve others and seek to meet their needs. Paul tells the Philippians to “consider others more important than yourselves.” Looking out for others isn’t an option – it is essential. 

Love and arrogance cannot live in the same heart. Arrogance leads to self-preservation. Self-preservation over prioritizes your needs and concerns and diminishes someone else’s.It causes us to become stingy, selfish, and narrow minded. This isn’t the mind of Christ that we have been given at the moment of salvation. With Jesus as our example, we love and serve because of His love for us. 

All this talk about putting others first makes us start to think about ourselves, doesn’t it? We are so entrenched in watching out for ourself that even the thought about serving others makes us think, “What about me?” “Who is going to watch after my needs?” 

The church should watch after one another. When the church is watching out for others the church will be supported, encouraged, and cared for. Remember, humility doesn’t mean putting yourself down for the sake of others, but it is an invitation to lift others up, to see that they have been made in the image of God, and to serve them the way that Jesus serves the Church. 

Live It: 

• How would your life look if you consider others to be more important than yourself? 
• How would your schedule look if you were to prioritize others?

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You might not want to admit it, but the things you buy have an affect on your happiness. We believe the lie that stuff will bring us happiness. Companies know this and no longer market to the mind but to your heart. Commercials position their items as keys to happiness, success, peace, and fulfillment. And we have all fallen into an impulsive purchase because we wanted to feel happy. 

But what happens to that new purchase? Everything new becomes old and before long, the new purchase that brought you joy will be discarded. The items that consume our thoughts and happiness slowly fade away. 

Why? 

• They break. 
• They become old. 
• They don’t spark joy. 

As something fails to bring us happiness we replace it with something new. The spiral of cheap happiness begins again. 

The word beatitude is Latin and refers to a state of happiness or bliss. Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with Jesus teaching how someone can find true happiness while on this planet. Each of the beatitudes in Matthew 5 reverse a popular notion of happiness and life. Matthew 5:6 cuts to the hungers and desires, passions, and hunger of the soul. 

A hungry person has one thing on their mind – finding food or water. Only food and water will satisfy someone who is hungry. Jesus is making a clear point – a hungry soul, one searching for happiness and purpose, can only be filled by a pursuit of Jesus. 

The beatitudes show us that true happiness comes from faithfulness to Jesus. Happiness is not the goal for discipleship – faithfulness is.

Physical things will not satisfy spiritual needs. 

We stand on the Word or God, walk in His power, live out our faith, and proclaim the truth in love. True happiness is only found in the one who gives life. 

Happiness isn’t based on your surroundings, your stuff, or your successes. It is only found in your Savior. Everything else will come and go. But Jesus will remain forever. 

Live It: 

• Do you hunger for things or the things of God? 

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The Bible frequently uses the imagery of light to explain refer to God, holiness, and faith. 

In the Bible we see that:

God is light: “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

Jesus is light: “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12)

The Bible is light: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Light cannot be overcome by darkness: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)

The function of light it to illuminate and guide. It drives out darkness which allows people to safely navigate while they journey. Darkness brings confusion, hopelessness, pain, and fear. 

God is light, and as followers of Jesus, we are the light of the world. Jesus proclaimed during the Sermon on the Mount that, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).

Christians are light bearers. The light of Jesus illuminates the darkness by exposing lies, bringing truth, destroying darkness, and brings hope to the hopeless. Christians, through the Holy Spirit, are light bearers who speak truth and illuminate the path to Jesus by sharing the Gospel. We have a role to play by pushing back the darkness around us. Jesus is the source of life. 

We are beacons of light that warn others of the danger of a life of darkness. A city on a hill and a lamp on a stand are positioned to shine for everyone to see. Jesus has precisely positioned you to light up the darkness.

Live It:

• How can you be the light of the world where Jesus has precisely placed you today? 

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We don’t know much about Zacchaeus except he was a chief tax collector, short in stature, searching for Jesus, and that he was very rich. 

How did he get his money? Tax collectors received their wages by overtaxing others. This system, which an officer gained his income by extorting more money from the people than he had contracted to pay the Roman government, had evidently worked well for Zacchaeus. His location in the major customs center of Jericho was ideal. Being both a member of a generally despised group and wealthy, he is a notable subject for the saying grace of God

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector and a rich one at that. His wealth came by cheating the people of Jericho out of their hard-earned money. While Zacchaeus was buying new clothes, the townspeople were struggling to feed their children.

 Tax collectors were some of the most hated people during Jesus’ day, so it is safe to assume that the crowd did not want to associate with Zacchaeus. Men and women avoided him. They made jokes about him. He would have felt alone even when surrounded by a crowd.
Surrounded by money and things, he was searching for something more. 

Surrounded by a crowd, he felt alone. 

The money he amassed didn’t bring him the life it had promised. 

Sin does that: 

• Promises popularity.
• Promises friends.
• Promises purpose.
• Promises joy.
• Promises life. 

This world makes large promises about what will bring security, hope, and purpose. Zacchaeus had surrounded himself with stuff but was in need of something more – a Savior, a new life. He knew that life without Jesus wasn’t a life at all. Zacchaeus had everything he financially needed but missed what his soul needed. So he climbed a tree to see Jesus – hoping to get a glimpse of the one who changes lives. But Jesus, as He approached the tree, called Zacchaeus by name. He was known, loved, and invited into something greater – life with Jesus

Live It: 

• Are you hoping that a possession, person, or plan will rescue your soul from the emptiness it feels? Life is only found in the giver of life. Hope is only found in the grace of Jesus. 

Have you noticed how a new Christian is more passionate than some people who have been Christians for years? A new Christian will tell everyone about her faith. A new Christian will share his story with anyone who will give them three minutes of their attention. A new Christian will spend hours practicing spiritual disciplines each week – studying the Bible, praying, and serving. 

 What is the difference between a new Christian and others who have followed Jesus for decades? One reason for their increased passion could be their recognition of their sin and the gratitude for the gift of salvation found in Jesus. 

We get a picture of this in Luke 7 when a sinful woman interrupts a dinner party that Jesus was attending to anoint his feet with perfume. The religious leaders were surprised that a sinful woman – whatever moral sins she had committed – was letting her hair down in front of Jesus. During this type of banquet poor people were allowed to come and get scraps after the meal, but this scene was tense. This woman walked to Jesus, poured expensive perfume on his feet, let down her hair – which was grounds for divorce during that time – and washed His feet. The Pharisee who owned the house thought that Jesus would condemn such a person and her shameful acts. He was shocked that a sinful woman would praise Jesus in an extravagant way.

Jesus explained that worship is connected to our understanding of Jesus’ forgiveness and grace at work in our lives. Appreciation for Jesus’ grace begins with an understanding of our need for grace. She knew the weight of her sin and publicaly worshipped Jesus out of her gratitude for the grace of Jesus. 

This is one of the reasons a new Christian’s passion can out-burn a person who has forgotten his old life before Christ. If we forget the depths of our sin then we are at risk of forgetting the depths of God’s grace. Our appreciation for salvation coincides with our realization of the price of our sin and the sacrifice of Jesus. 

Live It: 

• Take a moment and consider what your life was before you met Jesus. 
• How can a realization of your past sin led to an increased passion for Jesus? 

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