Am I Good Enough? YES – and you always have been
You are good enough already
One of the most important lessons I learned (or rather re-learned) in 2020 was that I am good enough already. There’s nothing you or I have to do to become more. You are good enough already too – exactly as God intended. You always have been.
From the very beginning, God created humanity in His image and said that it was very good. Then, free will kicked in and things got a little off track. God knew what would happen, which is why He created the perfect plan to redeem us.
In the beginning…
Genesis tells the Creation Story in just one chapter of its 50. God created the heavens and the Earth, then He created everything in between, and finally He rested.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Genesis 1:31, NIV
God saw that everything He made was very good. From the start, God loved us. The world and everything in it were exactly as He intended – including us.
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Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
genesis 2:25, niv
There was a sacred simplicity about life in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were living as God’s children, created perfect in His image. Though exposed (naked), they felt peace with themselves and their relationship with God. They felt no need to hide any part of themselves because they felt no shame.
There was no reason to. As far as they knew, everything was good. Sin hadn’t yet entered the world and they lived in unparalleled harmony with their Creator. But as we all know, it wouldn’t stay this way for long.
Doubt tells us we are not enough
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
genesis 3:1-6, niv
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
Adam and Eve had a good thing going, but God made people, not robots. Their thoughts and feelings were unique. God allows us all to make our own choices, and as Adam and Eve lived their perfect life, they were still susceptible to external influences. Thus, the serpent slowly sowed the seed of doubt.
He convinced Eve that she wasn’t enough. He planted the lie that she needed to become more than what God had already created her to be.
Anyone else heard this lie recently?
Today, we are bombarded with images, messages, and comparisons that convince us of this same idea – we are not enough. We need to become more – thinner, smarter, richer. At first we might be able to push it aside, but as the seed of doubt grows, so does the discomfort within ourselves.
When doubt begins to take root, so does shame. Maybe I should be better. Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that donut. If I buy this program or restrict my diet, maybe I’ll become thinner and maybe then I’ll be enough.
But friend, this post is to remind you not to let it get that far. You are enough already. Keep reading. God made you on purpose. Even with Adam and Eve’s first mistake, He had a perfect plan to redeem them – to redeem us.
Shame tells us we are not good enough
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
GENESIS 3:7-10, NIV
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Adam and Eve listened to the whisper of doubt. They allowed fear and shame into their lives by believing the serpent’s lies that there was something more, something better than God’s plan.
Before eating the forbidden fruit, they didn’t even know about nakedness. They felt no need to change or hide their natural shapes and state of being. After, they recognized their nakedness. That’s the first time they wanted to hide – from themselves, from each other, from the wrong they knew they had just committed, and ultimately from God.
Shame now enters the picture as Adam and Eve begin to believe that maybe they aren’t good enough. Maybe if they cover themselves they’ll be more acceptable before God. Maybe if they hide God won’t see what they’ve done.
Do you remember the first time you were exposed to the lie that there was something more or better than who you are right now? How many times have we all compared ourselves to what we believe might be better – what could make us thinner, wealthier, happier – and how many times have those empty promises have actually been fulfilled?
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Who told you that you aren’t good enough?
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
GENESIS 3:11-13 NIV
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
God knew what would happen when He gave humanity free will. And even though He already knows the answer, He asks Adam and Eve who told them that they needed to hide their nakedness? Who told them that they weren’t good enough exactly as God made them?
I imagine He was disappointed, even though again, He already knew the answer. He also knew that someday redemption would come. God knew at that moment that His Son Jesus would come to save humanity from themselves. He knew that through this sacrifice, we would be made whole again.
Through Jesus, my friends, we are enough. God created us exactly as He intended.
So…who told you that you aren’t enough? Who told you that you aren’t working hard enough or that you aren’t pretty/smart/thin/creative enough?
My guess? The only person who’s telling you that you aren’t good enough – is you.
Am I really good enough?
Yes. Yes, yes, yes. And you always have been.
God’s grace has made you whole. His perfect love covers all your mistakes. You. Are. Enough.
There’s nothing more you need to do. There’s nothing more you need to become. Did you wake up today? Congratulations. You are already enough.
Practice this today. Just say it out loud three times. Right here, right now.
I am good enough.
I am good enough.
I am good enough.
What other lies do you tell yourself? Let me know in the comments below so I can focus an upcoming post on combatting these things with God’s TRUTH!
Have a lovely day friend,
Yes God made us perfect. We will be complete, forgiven and redeemed when we use that free will to chose Him as our Savior and Lord by asking forgiveness for our sin that came upon us with Adam and Eve. Then will we have abundant life and the hope and promise of eternal life with Him. God created us because He wanted a relationship with us. Hallelujah. I am not alone!!