It’s hard to look up and see the bright side of things if we regularly feel like we’re not enough. For some of us, we do not even have to imagine such a situation. We may feel that our parents believe we do not do well enough at school. We might feel that the other people at school do not want to be friends with us because of this and that. And sometimes, we feel as if we are not good enough for God.
There is good and bad news, but let’s start with the bad news: We are not good enough for God (please keep reading).
23 Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard, 24and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. Romans 3:23-24
Because our world has sin and evil in, and we as people turn our backs on God so often, we do not deserve God’s love. God does not owe us His love, but He chooses to love us anyway. See, God loves us – no matter who we are and what we do. Jesus is our proof. Jesus comes to earth to stand in our place: people who did not love God in the first place. Because of Jesus, God sees us as good enough when we belong to Him (The big word for this is that we are justified). Now that’s cool!
But we still have the other problem … You might say “I understand that God loves me and that if I belong to Jesus, God has justified me, but other people do not see it like that”… Now that’s where God comes in again. God loves us so much that we really can love ourselves too. God does not make mistakes – He took his time with you. Every centimetre of you has been made in His image. If that’s not enough, nothing could ever be enough. The problem is that we often compare ourselves to others. And they also do it with us – they may look at us and say terrible things, but it doesn’t matter what they say in the end.
As long as we compare ourselves to other people like the other teens in our school, or allow ourselves to judge who we are by comparing ourselves with others, we’re going to be unhappy. God made us all unique. This means you have a wonderful purpose. You have your own unique talents. Yes, you may not be chosen for the A-Netball / Rugby team, but you are enough. Perhaps there are people who judge how you look and think that’s not enough, but you are enough. We can trust that we are enough. We must rather believe what God thinks of us and not what other people think.
In a practical way, next time you feel like you’re not enough, just consider if it’s because you compare yourself with other people. Rather look at yourself through God’s eyes, because we were justified by Jesus and are made in His image. You are enough!
