The phrase, “You are enough,” is found on mugs and t-shirts and floats around in memes all over the internet. It sounds positive, warm, fuzzy, and encouraging. Afterall, don’t you want your life to be worth something?
The problem is, saying “You are enough,” isn’t biblical and it rejects the gospel of Jesus Christ. The only human that ever lived who was actually enough, was Jesus, but he made himself nothing for us so that we could be restored to our Creator. Saying that you are enough is the same as saying that you don’t need anyone to make up your worth. “I am enough” is like saying, “I am my own god.” Talk about pride and, if I may be so bold, even blasphemy!
The truth is, that if we follow Jesus, our identity is in him, not whether or not we’re “enough.”
The thing is, we’re all sinners, we all fall short, and nowhere in the Bible does it say that any of us are worthy of God’s love. All worthiness in the Bible is referring to God. And yet God loves us anyway with an indescribably intense love. Though we aren’t worthy, he still came to us in the fragility of a human being to be sacrificed for our unworthiness so that we don’t get the gruesome end that we deserve.
All Have Sinned
No one taught my big brother to throw the rock at my head when I was barely two years old. While he played in a plastic wading pool in our front yard, I put rocks into the pool. My brother didn’t like that I was putting rocks in his pool and I found it hilarious that my putting rocks in the pool made him so mad, so I kept doing it. Eventually he got fed up, grabbed a rock, chased me around the side of the house, and chucked that rock at me, hitting me square in the back of the head. I ended up getting stitches.
I made the choice at that young age to egg my brother on and he made the choice to throw the rock at my head. My parents didn’t go around throwing things at each other. They didn’t egg each other on in things that annoyed them. In fact, they taught us very good morals growing up. However, both my brother and I chose sin anyway.
As it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
Romans 3:10-12 (ESV)
Isaac Newton’s theory says, “To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” So, it must be true, then, that there must be a consequence for all of my sins.
For the wages of sin is death…
Romans 6:23a (ESV)
That’s not the whole verse, but let’s just ponder on that phrase for a moment. We can try to do all the good we want, but just like little two-year-old Bethany, we all have this innate sin nature where we sin without meaning to or, sometimes, without realizing. For example, have you ever said something innocently only to find out that it hurt someone’s feelings? Yeah, me too. We didn’t mean to hurt the other person, but we did. Or, have you ever lost your temper? I’m guilty of that more than I want to admit. So, sin is just in us, and depressing as it is, we have to somehow answer to God for that sin.
God created us perfect and without sin. But Adam and Eve decided that they wanted to be like God, to have knowledge like God’s knowledge, so they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And God punished them, and the rest of us, with death.
Salvation is Free
Let’s go back now to the rest of Romans 6:23.
…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23b (ESV)
Because God loves us so fiercely, he sent Jesus to take on the punishment for all of our sins. This act doesn’t make us worthy, it makes us loved.
You may notice that this act is a gift. That means we can either reject it or receive it. Just believing that it exists is not enough. Even Satan believes in Jesus. You can believe the gift is there and still reject it.
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
James 2:19 (NKJV)
So you must accept this gift, which means accepting your sin, and accepting that you are not enough. You need to acknowledge that you need a God who is enough and bow down before him because he is worthy of all your praise.
Have you ever sung in church the refrain, “I am worthy, I am enough”? Of course not! You do sing about how worthy God is, however. In fact, when we get to heaven, all we’ll sing is how worthy God is, such as one of the angels’ songs in Revelation:
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom,
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
Revelation 5:12 (NKJV)
In heaven we’ll have a better understanding of the depth of God’s love for us. But we must accept his gift of eternal life to find out.
Our Identity is in Christ
If we think that we are worthy, or that we’re enough, then we are placing our identity in self. We will rely on “self” in all areas of life. However, as we’ve already explored, we are sinners, incapable of God’s perfection. Therefore, if we rely on ourselves we may be successful for a time, but eventually we will fail miserably. If you are a born again believer, your identity is in Christ, not your self, or anyone or anything else.
As a Christian, you are no longer powered by your own strength, but by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:17-24 talks about how we aren’t supposed to walk any longer as though we aren’t Christians, but we should take off our old self, and put on the new person we became when we became followers of Christ. We are now indwelt with the holy spirit.
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (ESV)
Therefore, we need to learn to place our identity in Christ, powered by the Holy Spirit who lives within us. We are not enough all on our own, we need the power of Christ in us to live out our purpose: to tell others about Jesus and to pour into them.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Matthew 28:19-20a (ESV)
Jesus loved you so much that, even though you are a worthless sinner, he endured hell for you and then filled you with his Holy Spirit so that you could bring others into that same freedom from sin. Instead of being a worthless sinner, you are now a Spirit-filled forgiven follower of Christ.
So, no, you are not enough, but Jesus is enough and he loves you beyond all measure.
Bethany Marinelli is an author and speaker out of Orlando, Florida. She also supports her husband, Andrew, in his auto repair business and homeschools her son, Arthur.
If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to this blog below and get a new post in your inbox monthly!