You are NOT enough

You’ve heard it said, “I am enough.” While this sounds great, it simply isn’t true.  You are not enough and that’s ok because Jesus is enough.

The Bible teaches that we are sinful. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This means everyone. Because of our sin, we are no longer whole; we stand in need of a Savior. As believers, there is longer condemnation not because of us, but because of Christ Jesus.

The problem is that many of us continue to live with condemnation and shame. We believe lies about who we are. The scriptures challenge us to take every thought captive — including those we use to shame ourselves.

2 Cor 10:5 – We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Every thought captive:  I am worthless. No one will love me. I’m unforgiveable. No one wants me.

          These are shaming words.

Earlier today there was a knock at my front door. Before opening it, I looked into the peep hole to seek who was on the other side. In the same way, when a thought “knocks on the door”, we have a decision on whether or not to invite them in.

How do we take these thoughts captive? We combat them with scripture.

• I am worthless – “While I was still a sinner, Christ died for me.”
• No one will love me – “For God so loved that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should have eternal life.”
• I’m unforgiveable – “If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us.”
• No one wants me – “I have gone to prepare a place for you.” He wants to spend eternity with us.

Phil 3:13 – Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead

We need to lay down our swords and stop the negative self-talk that shames us. Some of us need to forgive those who hurt us. We may not slay them physically but we do with our words and our thoughts. In the long-run, this only injures us.

This Christmas season take note of the thoughts you allow space in your minds. We can’t help what pops into our minds, but we can choose whether or not we listen to them. As a friend of mine says, “We can’t stop a bird from flying over our heads, but we can stop it from building a nest in our hair.” Let us learn to take our thoughts captive so that we can truly experience the joy of Christmas.