You Are Enough

After taking a very difficult history test (which I had spent approximately 10 hours studying for), I was eager for my professor to grade it. But I didn’t expect to see an 80 at the top of my test when he handed it back to me. I felt instantly disgusted and disappointed (even though I realized that an 80 was from a failing grade).

What do I need to do to make a 100—or closer to perfect—score on the next exam? Do I need to wake up earlier? Go to bed later? Withdraw from my other classes to solely focus on history? How much studying will be enough?

Always Striving

My struggle to get good grades reminds me of our struggle to be “good” Christians. We try so hard to do everything perfectly, yet we still fall short. We attempt to be everything that we need to be, but we still fail. We often wonder if we’ll ever be enough.

The beautiful truth of God’s Word is that we already are.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NKJV)

Before we had done anything good, God showed us that He loves us by sending His Son to die for us. He already earned goodness—perfection—for us. We can’t work hard enough to earn it for ourselves. What we earned was death. Because we had sinned against God, we deserved to pay for it. But He willingly paid for it instead.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NKJV)

Already Enough

Friends, you are enough in God’s eyes. You can never deserve His love, never earn His grace, and never repay His sacrifice.

If you feel discouraged about working incredibly hard for someone (or something) and not getting what you think you deserve, remember the grace that God has given you. We all deserved eternities in Hell. But while we were still in sin, Christ gave us the abundant life that He earned through His sacrifice.

Because of Christ, you are enough.