When Your Best is Not Good Enough

* (Please note: This was originally published on Uniquely Yours Ministry Blog) *

If you've ever felt like you're just not good enough for ________ (fill in the blank) than this post is for you. Grab a coffee and start your day out right with some fresh encouragement.

When Kerrington approached me about writing a guest blog on her page I took much time to seek the Lord about what He would have me share with you, and after much consideration, I believe He would like me to share on our struggle with inadequacy.

Lately it seems that everywhere around me I’ve been hearing “I’m not good enough”.  This statement is such a familiar one to me as well; I can’t even count how many times I remember telling myself that exact despairing phrase in the recesses of my mind.  Whether it’s whispered in our heart with those words, or whether the words form in our actions through seeking outward approval, acceptance or attention from any means other than that of Christ Jesus…the form it takes is of little consequence compared to our response to that simple little statement.

It is our response to that statement that determines everything.  I’d like to tell you that yes you are good enough…but the sad fact of the matter is that our human condition is not good enough.  Our human condition is messed up and wicked to the core.  This is a truth that offends us, but if we chose to accept it, we can be set free.  There is a solution to this messed up state….the solution is found in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the only One who was found good enough to offer us forgiveness, acceptance, and a fresh start…without expiration date or limit of use.  When we chose to accept this gift, the real us begins to be revealed as Christ peels back the layers of mess to display the beauty that He has seen all along. 

I’d like to introduce a new thought for you today.  You are not the sum of all of your mistakes, failures, successes, or accomplishments.  You are far more than that.  Your value can not be measured in the amount of friends you can attain or keep.  Your worth does not depend on the amount of money in your bank account or the material possessions you have acquired.  Regardless of the struggles or the mess you are in even in this very moment, it does not define how God views you and what He calls you.  Christ calls you His child; He does not love like your earthly parents.  His love does not depend on your behavior or your performance.  His love is not fickle or fading and He does not stop calling you His child just because you stop calling Him your Father. 

His desire is that you would experience His rich love for you and believe in the truth of how He sees you and what He calls you, because when He looks at you He does not define you by the mess of your deficiencies.  He does not call you by that mess that you try to hide and think is the “real you”. 

No, when He looks at you He sees the forgiveness and nature of Christ.  He sees all of the beauty that He placed inside of your heart, the destiny that He wove together, and the unique, quirky traits and characteristics that make up who you are.  He sees that these qualities have been hijacked, twisted, and warped by the hurts and wounds of life, but He hasn’t deviated one bit from His original plan for you.  He sees the original you that He created, and this my friend, this is the “real you”; not the outer image you project to others, nor the inner mess that you wish more than anything to hide, no it is His original creation, healed and whole that He calls the “real you”.  And this “real you” is good enough.

♥ Crystal