If somehow we awoke one morning to find ourselves on a deserted island, alone and with nothing, would the Lord Jesus Christ be adequate to enable peace and provision?
The contemplation of such a scenario is not easy, nor is it the norm of God's working in our lives. He intends that we live in the society of people, sharing our lives with others for the purpose of communicating His life to others by example and word. The question remains, however. Is Christ enough for the extreme circumstance we reference? Could He and His presence alone fill and fulfill our hearts in complete solitude?
"My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5).
The truth of the matter is that we do live on that island. A place exists within every born again believer, reserved solely for the Spirit of the Lord Jesus. No one else lives there, save He and ourselves. Indeed, boil the believer down to his or her essence, and that which remains is the Holy Spirit united unto our own spirits. "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinthians 6:17). In this holy and sublime sense, we could lose everything and everyone without losing anything or anyone. God and God alone fills and fulfills our hearts. Certainly He administers such grace through people, and we rightly appreciate and avail ourselves of the lamp of God's light they provide. Nevertheless, just as light existed in the world before the creation of sun, moon, and stars, Christ alone serves as the Light of our hearts (Genesis 1:3-5; 14-18). One sun shines upon the island of our hearts, the Son, and as my wife Frances often says, "Having Him, we have all."
Do we believe this? Would Christ be enough on that deserted island? Is He enough for the island within? He is. Again, however, do we believe? We must, first because it is true, and then because we must heed the warning of the Apostle John in the final admonition of his first epistle: "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (I John 5:21). Anything or anyone that we consider to be indispensable other than the Lord Jesus darkens our hearts as a false god. Our Savior alone, as revealed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, serves as the Light and Life of the island within, where the glory of Christ only, Christ always, Christ forever enlightens our being with the sole illumination of our hearts…
"The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord… Arise, shine, for Thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee."
(Proverbs 20:27; Isaiah 60:1)
"Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God."
(Psalm 42:11).
Weekly Memory Verse
Come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
(Isaiah 2:5)
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