This week, Cheer Up was written and read by Derek Otte.
What Was The Question Again?
Does anyone else struggle with that sense of feeling not good enough? I have wrestled with that for quite a while. The idea that I would be good enough if I was just a little more of “this” or a less of “that” has plagued me for years. The lies associated with that have trapped me, weighed me down and hijacked my brain and ultimately my life for so long that I believed they were true.
What I’ve come to realize is this though; I’ve been looking at it from the wrong angle. The question of whether or not I’m good enough is so broad and vague that it overwhelms and distracts one from digging deep to find the real questions behind “Am I good enough?” The fact is, I’ll never be good enough. Romans 3:23 reminds me that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Thankfully, God is good and righteous and provided Christ as a sacrifice to atone for my sins and yours, and so we are justified in God’s eyes because of that act if we put our faith in Christ.(v.24-26)
But even knowing that doesn’t seem to get to the heart of what it means to be good enough. Because is it really “good enough” that I’m after? Is that what I strive for my life to be, just good enough? The real questions behind “Am I good enough?” are often more subtle and buried a little deeper in our hearts.
Am I worthy?
Am I valued?
Am I accepted?
Do I have what it takes?
If we evaluate ourselves by worldly standards, we will most certainly fall short. In the world, we see that our worth, that our value, is in what we can do, what we can produce, what we can achieve. At some point in our lives there will come a time or place, for whatever reason, where we won’t be accepted. And there are honestly some situations where we genuinely do not have what it takes. We may lack the experience or training; or simply the strength to do a task or what needs to be done in the moment. We can end up feeling deflated and defeated.
But we don’t have to be stuck there. We can rejoice in the fact that God’s Word answers all of these questions in the affirmative! Just as Paul cries out regarding his sinful nature in the flesh in Romans 7:25; as we bring these questions to the Lord, we can cry out too, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Through Christ, God has answered those questions.
We are worthy in his sight! (2 Thessalonians 1:5, Colossians 3:1)
God uses persecutions and hardships we endure as proof that we are worthy of his Kingdom. And if we were not worthy because of Christ, then would he even encourage us to turn our thoughts toward heaven and our place in it?
God values us! (Matthew 18:10-14, Luke 15:4-7, Ezekiel 34:12)
Both Matthew and Luke recount Jesus’s parable of the shepherd and the one lost sheep. Like that sheep, he values us enough to come after us when we’re lost and celebrates our return to the flock! And Jesus, being the good shepherd, continues to take care of us; we are not just thrown back into the herd and forgotten. Ezekiel also speaks of God himself as a shepherd seeking to rescue and bring out his scattered sheep from where they have been driven. If God did not value us, he would not seek us.
We are accepted as God’s adopted children! (Romans 8:15, Ephesians 1:4-5, Galatians 4:5-7)
We get to call God “Daddy! Father!” We are loved and chosen, hand-picked by God to be his children! We are no longer slaves, but heirs to his kingdom as chosen children of God!
And God has equipped us to do his work! (Ephesians 4:8, 11-12, Hebrews 13:20-21, James 1:2-5)
God has given us gifts, not as trinkets or treasures, (though we should treasure them), but as a way to equip us to do his work. And God would not allow his treasured son or daughter to go through trials and troubles if he did not first give them the ability and wisdom to endure them!
In what ways are you questioning yourself? Where does the enemy attack you and speak lies to you about who you are? Search deep to find the core of these questions and look to God’s Word for the answers and for the truth of who you are in God’s eyes!