'Just a Mom's' View

“I am not enough”: This may be the most unpopular phrase in today’s world. In a society that shouts at you, “You do you”, “You are enough!, “Do whatever makes you happy!” Just believe in yourself,” Love yourself first so you can love others better,” and my personal favorite, “If Mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” ☺

All of these phrases have something in common. They are all phrases centered around the god of “myself.” They are phrases that make everyone else wait in line while you choose to first focus on how you are feeling about yourself that day. They are phrases that leave God out entirely.

If you are a Christian woman, then you believe that the God of this Universe created you, left you a beautiful Book of Guidance to follow and that loving Him, obeying Him and glorifying Him is what you were created to do. That means our source of truth must come from the Bible. That means we have a filter for all of the latest Facebook memes, commercials, blog posts, catchy songs and movies. Even when that movie makes you feel all warm and fuzzy all over and makes you feel empowered to make something of yourself, we MUST go back to our Source of Truth, God’s Word, and see how the message measures up.

One of my least favorite phrases ever is “I Am Enough”. I know that some of your eyes just got bigger and your breathing has changed a little. ☺ But give me a bit to explain. You will never find this phrase in the Bible. You will never find a verse that tells you to love yourself more. You will never even find the principle of loving yourself first. It’s just not there.

Why is that? Doesn’t Jesus think we are worth it? Maybe it was a phrase lost in translation or something! No, I would gently suggest that you already love yourself and that you are not enough, friend, and neither either am I. (gasp). Can we add even one day to our lives? Can we singlehandedly keep our hearts beating? Can we avoid any bit of heartache that we may face in this life? Are we, in our fallible bodies, our own source of truth? Do we have it all together? Can we get through the death of a loved one in our own strength? Can we save our own soul? Of course not. The answer to all of these questions is a big, huge, “NO!” Thank God the answer is “no”! That leaves a GIANT HOLE that JESUS CHRIST desires to fill.

We are not self-sufficient. We do not have all of the answers. We, simply put, are just not enough. We desperately need a Savior and He is willing to be enough for us because we are not enough on our own. Some of you may point back to the Scripture where Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves. I love the way Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth put it in her book, “Lies Women Believe.”

“How often have we heard someone say, ‘I’ve never liked myself’ or ‘She just doesn’t love herself?’ According to the Scripture, the Truth is that we do love ourselves – immensely. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves, the point is not that we need to learn to love ourselves so that we can love others. Jesus is saying we need to give others the same attention and care we naturally give ourselves…So for most of us, our need is not to learn to love ourselves more, but to learn to deny ourselves so we can do that which does not come naturally – to love God and others selflessly.”

Wow. “Selflessly”. Now there’s an unpopular word. Friend, to believe that you and I are not enough on our own does NOT give us less value, it does NOT mean we should walk through this life with our heads held down in shame wishing we could just die. Admitting we are not enough gives us TREMENDOUS value – in Christ. He thought we were worth it. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That is incredible love and a substantial, lasting reason to live.

So what about that person who is struggling with depression or perhaps the one you know who is contemplating suicide? Shouldn’t they just be encouraged with the words, “You are enough?” No.

And here’s why: Living a life where you just “look inside yourself” for strength is a very. empty. life. It will lead to even more depression and even more suicide because to put it simply – the answers are not found within. You are not enough. You will daily let yourself down and a life lived for you in first place will become a roller coaster of empty, unfulfilling emotions.

You MUST look for Someone Greater to fill that void. Every single day you must “die to yourself” and choose to live for Christ. With this new perspective, “I Am Not Enough”, suddenly the huge amount of hours you’ve been focusing on how you look, how you dress, what the scale says and what others are telling you is “put together” pales in comparison to what your eternal mission should be.

Those things are not inherently evil things, but they will drop down to lower rankings just as they should. Christ will begin to take preeminence and I can promise you that you will love others more than you ever have. Not because YOU are enough, but because God has been, is and always will be ENOUGH.

2 Corinthians 12:5-6,9-10:

“Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.

For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”