In our culture today, we are bombarded with the ideas that we are good enough, we are smart enough, and we can do anything we put our minds to. We are told that if we just believe in ourselves, we can accomplish anything. I have learned over the course of my life that, while this self-talk is very positive, it does not reflect the truth of God’s Word. Jesus tells the rich man in the Gospel of Mark (10:18), “No one is good – except God alone.” Then in Romans 3:23 it says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We Need Jesus! It has taken many years for this truth to really settle into my heart.
Sometimes we can have the misunderstanding that we need to look good to be worthy of Jesus. Like there is something we can do to achieve this worth. We think we can be acceptable by doing good works, going to church, serving at church, having obedient kids, having a good marriage or relationships, staying sober, by just being kind, etc. If we “look good” then Jesus will accept us. However, if “no one is good…” as the Bible says, then what can we to do to be acceptable to God?
I am going to let you in on a big secret that anyone who reads the Bible can know. You are not good, but you are enough! Just like you do not need to wash off before taking a shower, you do not need to clean up your life to come to God. This is true for someone who is seeking God for the first time, someone who had a relationship with Him in the past and is coming back to Him, or someone who walks with Him daily and just made a mistake.
The definition of enough is: adequate for the want or need; sufficient for the purpose or to satisfy desire. As a Christian, my purpose in this life is to know God and to make Him known. I am enough for this, sufficient for this purpose. Learning who God is and who He has created us to be doesn’t happen the moment we choose to believe in Him. It takes a lifetime. I chose to believe in Christ as my Savior when I was 8 years old. Since then, I have not always felt like I was enough. Sometimes I am just a mess. Yet, as I learn more truth from God’s Word and apply it to my life, it begins to be a part of who I am.
One thing that is now a part of who I am is the truth that I am enough. I don’t have to be anything I am not. I don’t have to look good to seek the Lord. He loves me because I am His child, even when I am a mess. This is true for you as well, if you have put your faith in Him. You are enough!
Amy Ellis and her husband are missionaries with Ethnos360. She is a teacher at heart. She taught kindergarten for 5 years before her first daughter was born in 2005. In 2006 she and her husband entered New Tribes Bible Institute, where their second daughter was born in 2007. Then they went through the missionary training program, where their son was born in 2009. They served for 10 years in Tanzania, Africa, and have recently moved back to the States to serve in a training capacity with Ethnos360. They will be living in Missouri beginning in the summer of 2022. Amy loves to share with others what the Lord has been teaching her and desires to see others grow in their knowledge and understanding of who God is and who they are created to be.
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