What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
I've sung this hymn since I was a kid and the tune still comes to mind, but I tend to brush off the word 'nothing.' I've come to regard that word as an adjective, not as a life altering noun. Just days after the celebration of our risen Savior and I still forget how important that word is.
I need nothing aside from Jesus. I shouldn't desire anything aside from my Jesus. But I still fall into the pattern of faulty thinking that I need something else to make me whole. I've associated 'wholeness' with happiness when it comes to self. But no matter how much I think straight A's, my goal weight, my quality and quantity of friendships, job offers, and accolades will make me feel whole, I am still left seeking more. But Jesus left that all at the cross. I need nothing apart from Him. If I truly believe that He must become greater (John 3:30) and that He gave me eternal peace because of His sacrifice (Isaiah 53:5), then I can stop worrying about finding wholeness here.
I read the book Jesus + Nothing = Everything a few years ago and I continue to read it because it reminds me that the cross was enough. Tchividjian states that "Humanity experiences a deep-rooted restlessness in regard to our cravings, because we're always trying to meet them with something smaller than Jesus." I look for hope in myself and others and that leaves me feeling empty and restless. But that there is hope because "Our standing with God is not based on our ongoing struggle for Jesus but on Jesus's finished struggle for us."
Finished. Completed. Whole. These words are reminders that there is nothing left to do. Jesus is everything and I have no hope aside from Him. As I am thinking about what was completed on the cross (hopefully not just these next few days, but everyday) I want to constantly remember that Jesus + Nothing = Everything. Jesus is all I could ever need, want, or desire and because of that I am whole. There is nothing left for me to do.
I can't seem to find the right words to describe the feeling of freedom because of the cross, but Isaac Watts had some words worth repeating," I do believe, I do believe/ That Jesus died for me;/ And through His blood, His precious blood/ I am from sin set free."